I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, § 



Shelf 




$ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



THEi 

RULING ELDERSHIP 



OF THE 

CHRISTIAN CHUECH. 



BY Tjn^- ' 

EEV. DAVID KING, LL.D., 



WITH EEMABKS ON THE LIABILITY OP ECCLESIASTICAL 
OFFICE -BEABEKS TO ACTIONS FOB DAMAGES. 

By JAMES PEDDIE, Esq., W.S. 




LONDON: 
JAMES NISBET AND CO., 21 BERNERS STREET. 



M.DCCC.LXI. 




edinburgh : 
printed by ballantyne and company, 
Paul's work. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Introduction, -7 
PART L 

Brief Statement oe the Argument for the Oeeice 

of Ruling Elder, - 14 



PART II. 
Duties of Elders. 

Chap.'I. — Duties common to them with others — Deport- 
ment in Secular Affairs, - - - - - 44 
Government of their own Families, 46 

Chap. II. — Official Duties of Elders viewed Individually : — 

Each his District, - - - - - - - 51 

District RcU-Book, 52 

Visitation of District, ------ 53 

Visitation of the Sick, - - - - - - 56 

Expostulation with Offenders, ----- 65 

Attentions to the Young, Classes, etc., - - - 73 

District Prayer Meetings, ----- 82 

Chaf. III. — Official Duties of Elders viewed Collectively: — 87 

Frequency of Meeting, and Regularity of Attendance, - 88 
Minutes, Congregational List, and Apportioning of the 

Congregation, * - - - - - - 89 

Admission of Members, - - - - - - 90 

Discipline, - -------97 

Measures affecting Public Worship, etc., 99 

General Encouragement to Beneficent Institutions, - 100 
Conclusion, - - - - - - - -101 

Chap. IV. — Duties of Elders in the higher Church Courts, 104: 



iv CONTENTS. 



PART III. 
Qualifications of Elders. 

PAGE 

Chap. I.— Age, etc., - 109 

Chap. II.— Piety, ------- 110 

Chap. III.— Knowledge, ------ 122 

Chap. IV. — Soundness in the Faith, - 125 



PART IV. 
Encouragements of Elders. 

1. The Office is honourable in itself, - ' - - • 130 

2. All its Engagements are of a Beneficent Character, - 132 

3. They who fill it in dependence on God's grace are secured 

of all Needful Assistance in Discharging its Duties, - 134 

4. All who have filled it in its own spirit have borne Testi- 

mony to its Desirableness, ----- 138 

5. A Faithful Discharge of its Duties shall be abundantly 

Recompensed in a Future State, - 140 



Conclusion, - -- -- -- - 150 

APPENDIX. 

Remarks on the Liability of Elders and other Ecclesiastical 
Office-Bearers to Actions for Damages for their Official 
Acts, 166 



PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 



In the former Editions of this Volume, I discussed 
with some comprehensiveness the subject of ecclesi- 
astical polity. In the present Edition that part is 
omitted, because I design to merge the substance of 
/\_ it in a Reply to the Recent Defences of Independency 
by Drs TTardlaw and Davidson.* I have been the 
more willing to fellow this course, that I have had 
counsels from various quarters to make this Treatise 
more thoroughly practical in its character, and hence 
more apprehensible and acceptable to the majority of 
readers. 

In place of the general disquisition on church 
government, I have introduced here a short state- 
ment of the proof for the particular office of which I 
delineate the duties. 

For the sake of brevity, I omit former Prefaces 
and all extraneous matter — making all considerations 
bend to the one object of furnishing a very cheap 
and very portable directory for Elders. 

* ' Congregational Independency, in contradistinction to Epis- 
copacy and Presbyterianism, the Church Polity of the New Tes- 
tament.' By Ralph Wardlaw, D.D. Glasgow, 1848. 

1 The Ecclesiastical Polity of the New Testament unfolded, and 
its points of coincidence or disagreement with prevailing systems 
indicated.' By Samuel Davidson, LL.D., Professor of Biblical Lite- 
rature in the Lancashire Independent College. London, 1848. 
A 



vi 



PREFACE. 



It may suffice to state here that this work origi- 
nated in an appointment which I received to deliver 
an Address on the Duties and Encouragements of 
Elders, at a meeting of the United Associate Pres- 
bytery of Glasgow, held in June, 1844. The office- 
bearers then assembled, consisting of the Members 
of Presbytery and a large body of Elders, requested 
me to publish the Address, and a wish at the same 
time was pretty generally expressed that I would 
extend my remarks, and discuss the subject of the 
Euling Eldership in all its more important relations 
and bearings. 

The Second Edition appeared in 1846, and the 
practical part, as then published, is now retained with 
very little alteration. 

The Appendix, most kindly prepared for this Edi- 
tion by my esteemed friend, James Peddie, Esq., 
W.S., will be found to be of great value in aiding 
our churches to regulate discipline, so as to avoid 
collision with the law of the land. 

It is due to the publishers to state, that, with their 
wonted liberality, they have undertaken^ for the 
benefit of Elders, to bring out this Treatise at a 
price which excludes all idea of profit, and entails 
a likelihood of considerable sacrifice, unless the sale 
should prove very extensive. 

D. K. 

Glasgow, March, 1851. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Scotland is deeply indebted to the Killing Elders of 
its Presbyterian denominations. A large portion of 
them have sustained a character becoming their office, 
and by their disinterested labours have done very 
much to build up the congregations with which they 
were more immediately connected, and to promote, 
in a wider range, the general interests of a common 
Christianity. Their lives, if intimately known and 
faithfully recorded, would furnish, in many instances, 
most genuine additions to christian biography. It 
would be found that numbers of them were led in 
early life to consider the things which belonged to 
their peace. Possibly they were distracted for a 
season by doubts and fears, and much occupied in 
anxious reading, reflection, and prayer ; but ulti- 
mately they were rescued from these perplexities, 
and £ being justified by faith, had peace with God 
through our Lord Jesus Christ.' Their personal piety 
commended itself in its fruits, and more and more 



8 



INTRODUCTION. 



developed itself in a diffusive usefulness. Yet their 
attainments and services becoming so appreciable by 
others, may have been very lowly esteemed by them- 
selves. The consciousness of much deficiency and 
sinfulness may have often distressed them almost to 
despair — often clouded their interest in Christ, and, to 
their own view, brought its very existence under sus- 
picion. So that, when they were chosen by the church 
to take an oversight of its interests, they may have 
shrunk from the proffered appointment, as only rebuking 
the defects and faults which unfitted them for its duties. 
Pressed, however, by influences which they were 
bound to respect, they did enter, possibly with trem- 
bling step, into sacred office. Its duties, even at the 
first, did not prove to a willing mind so formidable as 
had been dreaded. Ere long they became congenial 
and pleasing to beneficent habits ; and thus the faithful 
servant grew in affection and adaptation for his call- 
ing, till He who assigned the service exchanged it for 
rest, and ' an entrance w r as ministered abundantly 
into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ.'* Such, with due allowance for that 
diversity which prevails in the spiritual, as well as 
natural creation — such is an epitome of the career, 
steadfastly prosecuted and triumphantly concluded, by 
many who have held in our churches that honourable 
trust of which I have to treat. And we might lament 
that so little justice is done to their memory, were we 
not assured that their works, and labours, and patience 



* 2 Peter i. 11. 



INTRODUCTION. 



9 



are fully and ineffaceably written in the ' Lamb's book 
of life.' 

The usefulness of our elders has often been pro- 
longed in their families. Many of their children, 
enjoying the best examples and training, have done 
credit to their parentage in their own good be- 
haviour and success. As respects the church, more 
especially, it might create surprise to learn how many 
of its elders are the sons of elders, and to what a 
large extent the roll of our ministry has derived its 
supplies from the same source. Such remarks dispose 
us for commendation rather than for counsel, and nil 
us with gratitude to Him who hath so cared for his 
church, in providing it with office-bearers after his 
own heart. 

We must not, however, extend our eulogies beyond 
due limits. So far they may have the sanction of the 
King and Head of the church, while he has too abun- 
dant cause for subjoining the complaint, ' Neverthe- 
less. I have somewhat against thee.' There are few 
Sessions in which some members are not comparatively 
inefficient ; even the best have need of improvement ; 
and the instances are not rare where 'the eldership of 
a congregation are generally remiss in the discharge 
of important obligations, to be afterwards considered. 
Happily these evils are nowhere more felt and la- 
mented than among the class to whom they attach ; 
and a movement has lately commenced among them- 
selves to elevate the standard of their own proficiency. 
This spontaneous effort at reform is of very high con- 
sequence. Any amelioration appearing in our churches 



10 



INTRODUCTION. 



would be questionable in its character, and ephemeral 
in its duration, if it did not include the session; and if 
it should originate in the session, and there strike deep 
its roots, and fortify its upright stem with goodly 
branches, the consequent benefit would be illimitable — 
the leaves of such a tree would be for c the healing of 
the nations.' The ministry would be stimulated on 
the one hand, and the people on the other ; classes, 
schools, missionary societies, all beneficent institutions, 
would feel the impress of a new energy, the glow of a 
new life, and many a tongue would uplift the ejacula- 
tion, 6 The time to favour Zion is come ; the time which 
God hath set!' 

Even a single elder may be greatly influential. The 
statement has two aspects; for he may do great harm, 
or great good. One elder may do much injury. It 
is not necessary to this that he be a liar, or swearer, 
or drunkard ; for such a man would bring himself 
under discipline, and could neither become nor remain 
an elder in any of our churches. It is enough to 
make him worse than useless, that he be an imprac- 
ticable and troublesome individual. If such a cha- 
racter is rarely to be found, yet, to complete a sketch, 
he may at least be supposed. We naturally depict a 
person of this sort as possessing a very good opinion 
of himself. He may not entertain the same favourable 
estimate of others, or his very respect for them may 
secure them a measure of his jealousy and ill-will. 
Being of a soured disposition, he may have a morbid 
discontent with existing arrangements and regulations, 
and speak as if all things were amiss for want of his 



INTRODUCTION. 



11 



mending. In sessional deliberations he may have 
many cases to bring forward, and motions to submit, 
and speeches to make, and become very wrathful and 
intractable, if any impatience be manifested under his 
inflictions. In forwarding his views, he may commu- 
nicate much with those elders whom he is most likely 
to influence ; and thus form something like a party in 
the session, and then talk of opposite sides. If poorly 
- his brethren in the eldership, he may set 
to work in the congregation, and by ex parte represen- 
tations of what is passing, stir up dissatisfaction there, 
and then plead a ff pressure from without' in apology 
for his earnestness. By no means deficient in the love 
of power, he may feel as if power were most ex- 
pressively shown in opposition : to aid another, might 
rather seem to him to be weakness. TThen good pro- 
posals, therefore, are made, and do not emanate 
from himself, it may be his frequent course first to 
doubt of them, and then labour to defeat them. He 
may be commendably devoted to the cause of civil 
liberty ; and, transferring his notions of political 
abuses to ecclesiastical administration, and thinking 
that the extravagances of the state have all crept into 
a presbyterian church, however spare may be its 
finances and economical its outlay, he may suppose 
that he acts the patriot and reformer, in calling for 
indiscriminate retrenchment, and frowning on every 
kind and generous suggestion. Yet this elder may not 
be without traits of excellence ; or, as some would say, 
redeeming qualities. He may be versed in scripture 
— he may be diligent in a good work when it meets 



12 



INTRODUCTION. 



his mind; and no one would feel entitled to pronounce 
him positively a bad man. But, if an office-bearer in 
the church have the cast of mind which has just been 
indicated, or anything resembling or approaching it, 
he may not only be prevented by his temper from 
accomplishing much in Christ's cause himself, but be- 
come a fearful hinderance alike to sessional and con- 
gregational reformation. 

On the other hand, a single elder may do great good. 
It is not necessary to this that he be a man of extraor- 
dinary powers, or of immense wealth ; nor must we 
depict him, to account for his successful services, as a 
paragon of moral excellence. He has his failings, but 
he knows them himself, and an humbling consciousness 
of them sheds a sobriety over his bearing, and inclines 
him to be respectful in his communications with 
others. That abuses exist, he sees and deplores ; and 
he applies himself, but with the meekness of wisdom, 
to effect the correction of them; and reckons it better, 
in accomplishing his object, to avoid a battle than to 
gain a victory. He throws his soul into beneficent 
enterprises, and it takes the mould of them, expands 
to their capaciousness, rises to their altitude, and re- 
cedes to their immeasurable distance from meanness 
and vice. In prosecuting the cause of Christ, he is 
drawn more into fellowship with Christ, imbibes more 
of the spirit of Christ, and hence becomes more 
thoroughly christian in all his views, feelings, and 
engagements. One can mark a discernible progress 
in his piety. There is a ripening aversion to evil, a 
deepening delight in true goodness, wherever found, 



INTRODUCTION. 



and a growing readiness for every good work. Even 
his friendship, always sincere and trustworthy, evinces 
more of a mellowing kindliness, a purer tone of sacred- 
ness in its sympathy, more of that exquisite tender- 
heartedness which 'rejoices with them that rejoice, 
and weeps w T ith them that weep/ How valuable is 
such a man to all with whom the providence of God 
allies him ! What a treasure is he to a minister ! — 
what a treasure to a session ! — what a treasure to a 
congregation ! While he lives, he does far more good 
than is ever suspected by himself, or shall be known 
to others, till the day shall declare it and when he 
dies, good men carry him to his grave, and make great 
lamentation over him. If, then, a single elder may 
be so influential, so perniciously or profitably influ- 
ential, what importance should we not attach to a 
movement beginning with elders themselves to advance 
the well-working of their entire order! 

My aim, in what follows, is humbly to contribute to 
this result ; and happy shall I esteem myself if I am 
enabled in any measure, however small, to facilitate 
and expedite so desirable a consummation. 

The design of this Treatise is wholly practical. It 
may be proper, however, to begin with a statement of 
proof, since appeals have little force when they are 
not based on conviction, 



14 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



PART I. 

BRIEF STATEMENT OF THE ARGUMENT FOR THE 
OFFICE OF RULING ELDER. 



PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 

The language now in use makes a wide difference 
between a bishop and an elder. In scriptural phraseo- 
logy, these terms are applied to one class of office- 
bearers. Paul sent for the elders of Ephesus, and 
he exhorted them 6 to take heed to all the flock of 
which the Holy Ghost had made them bishops/ ren- 
dered in our version ' overseers.' * Thus the identical 
persons were called elders and bishops. The apostle 
also, after instructing Titus as to the qualifications 
needed by elders, adds, 6 For a bishop must be 
blameless.'j The term elder, used in the first instance, 
is immediately exchanged for the term bishop, while 
the same office-bearer is described. 

It must be understood then and kept in mind, that 
by elders and bishops scripture denotes one order of 
functionaries. 

Scripture very explicitly represents these elders or 
bishops as invested with authority over the churches. 



Acts xx. 28. 



t Titus i. 7. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



15 



This is admitted by the most eminent advocates of 
Independency. i We have pastors,' says Dr Wardlaw, 
1 over our churches, and we regard them, in scripture 
phrase, as having the rule over them.'* 6 The titles 
of ruler and president/ says Dr Davidson, 6 imply that 
the pastors or elders of a church govern, rule, or ex- 
ercise authority over it ; which is farther evident, 
because the people are required to obey, to submit 
themselves to them that have the rule/f 4 There is 
authority,' says Mr James, ' belonging to the pastor, 
for office without authority is a solecism. " Remember 
them that have the rule over you ; " " obey them that 
have the rule over you;" " submit yourselves," etc, 
These are inspired injunctions, and they enjoin obe- 
dience and submission, on christian churches, to their 
pastors.'J 

* Cong. Independency, p. 311. f Eccles. Polity, p. 269. 

t Christian Fellowship, pp. 56, 57. 
Congregationalists sometimes go farther than Presbyterians are 
able to follow them in claiming power for pastors. Dr Davidson 
says : 1 In meetings of the church, no member should speak with- 
out permission of the elders, nor continue to do so when they 
impose silence. The elders give and withhold liberty of speech 
when the church is assembled. In such meetings no member 
should oppose the judgment of the presiding elder.' — Ecclesiastical 
Polity, p. 271:. 

Mr James says : ' All the proceedings at a church meeting should 
either emanate directly from the pastor, or from others by his pre- 
vious knowledge and consent.' He gives the minister an absolute 
negative on the admission of members to the church, and says : 
* No member should presume to bring forward a candidate in oppo- 
sition to the opinion of the pastor.' — Christian Fellowship, p. 172. 

Dr Campbell goes further, and not only lodges with the minis- 



16 THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 

Since all elders rule, they might all, in this sense, 
be called ruling elders. So a minister rules, and he is 
officially a ruling elder. But it is the doctrine of 
Presbyterian churches that some elders are properly, 
and by scriptural warrant, appointed only to rule ; 
while others combine in their appointment both ruling 
and teaching. He who both rules and teaches is called 
by us the minister or the pastor, while they who are 
charged only with superintendence are the ruling 
elders. It will be understood, then, that by ruling 
elders are meant all the members of session who are 
not ministers. I am now to present very briefly the 
argument for a Ruling Eldership. 

I. Each of the primitive churches had a plurality of 
elders. 

Independents were wont to dispute this position ; 
and both Mr Greville Ewing and Dr Bennet laboured 
to show that scripture favours a one -elder" system, and 
thus countenances the prevailing form of Indepen- 
dency, which assigns to each church a single elder, 
who both rules and teaches. Primitive practice and 

ter a negative on the admission of members, but makes the whole 
matter of admission rest with himself, maintaining that the com- 
mission of Christ to his apostles clothes tlie evangelist or pastor 
at once with the authority and responsibility of administering the 
ordinance of baptism, and consequently of admitting members. — 
Church Fellowship, p. 19. No person will suspect these able and 
excellent writers of any personal disposition to tyrannise over the 
church. They would sacrifice life itself for the church's good, 
Their language develops only the necessities of a system. 



THE RULING- ELDERSHIP. 



17 



Independent practice were in this manner harmonised. 
But there is no point which can be more clearly proved 
from scripture than that a company of elders presided 
over each of the primitive churches. Numerous state- 
ments show that this was the rule ; and no exceptions 
are recorded. Paul, in addressing the Hebrews, says, 
6 Obey them that have the rule over you/* James 
exhorts him who is sick to * call for the elders of the 
church.'f These are individual instances, but we have 
also comprehensive examples. Paul says to Titus : 
' For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldst 
set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain 
elders in every city, as I had appointed thee.' J We 
read of Paul and Barnabas, that they 4 ordained elders 
in every church. 7 § 

Our leading Congregationalists now admit that a 
plurality of elders for each church is the primitive 
system. My friend Dr Wardlaw quotes from me these 
sentences : 6 Whenever a number of persons were con- 
verted under the preaching of the apostles or their 
fellow-labourers, these converts were formed into a 
society, and obtained for their stated and proper offi- 
cers, bishops and deacons. Only some churches were 
favoured with the ministrations of apostles and evan- 
gelists, and these churches enjoyed that distinction 
only for limited periods and at remote intervals ; but 
every church, no matter when planted or by whom 
watered, or to what country belonging, had bishops 



* Heb. xiii. 17. 



t James v. 14. 
§ Acts xiv. 23. 



t Titus i. 5. 



18 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



and deacons for its fixed and abiding office-bearers.' * 
Dr Wardlaw says that 6 he could not wish his senti- 
ments more clearly expressed than in these sentences 
and it will be observed that they declare every church 
to have had bishops, and not a bishop merely. Dr 
Vaughan says, 6 The existence of such a practice in all 
the early churches whose usage in this respect has 
become known to us, is a remarkable fact, and enough 
to justify suspicion as to the wisdom of our own pre- 
valent usage.'f 4 Nothing seems to us more certain,' 
says Dr Davidson, * than that there was a plurality of 
elders in the primitive churches. The fact is admit- 
ted by the ablest historians/ { 

Since then every church in the apostolic age had a 
company of elders, the same usage should still pre- 
vail ; for as Dr Wardlaw observes, ' What was actu- 
ally done under apostolic direction, has the same force 
of authority with an express command to do it— the 
force, that is, of the authority of Christ.' § Not a little 
still remains to be proved as to the scriptural charac- 
ter of our elders ; but the proof already offered esta- 
blishes this much, that a church having a plurality of 
elders may be in the right ; while a church with one 
elder, like our Independent churches, must be in the 
wrong. 

Dr Davidson admits and urges that Independents 
are in the wrong ; but contends that we err too, be* 

* Congregational Independency, pp. 177, 178. 
t Congregationalism, p. 183. J Eccles. Polity, p. 357. 
§ Congregational Independency, p. 4. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



cause all elders he thinks should be pastors, and 
empowered to teach as well as rule. This is his 
scheme of eldership ; and we earnestly wish that he 
could prevail on his religious denomination to reduce 
it to practice. It is our firm conviction that they 
cannot institute a plurality of elders, and not pass 
into our usage. A number of competent pastors will 
not be found for every one of many small and poor 
churches. Soon the preaching will be in the hands of 
one or two, who can sustain attention and impart in- 
struction ; and the rest of the elders will be glad to retire 
from pulpit occupation for which they are not fitted, 
and to restrict themselves to the work of superintend- 
ence, which they can perform acceptably. Here then 
is a sure avenue to practical agreement. Let us all 
follow out our common admission, that each church 
should have a company of elders. Dr Wardlaw, after 
quoting Dr M'Kerrow and myself, in regard to the 
deaconship, and commending the steps taken by 
Presbyterian churches to have that institution re- 
stored, says : 'Could we find authority for the office of 
the ruling elder, we trust we should have grace to 
follow out our convictions.' * But Dr Wardlaw finds 
at least authority for a company of elders. With all 
respect we would say, Let him and his brethren fol- 
low out that conviction. Call them teaching elders, 
or call them ruling elders ; if they are appointed, 
they will ere long be such elders as we have ourselves. 
There will not long be a college of ministers in any 



* Page 192, 



20 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



one of the chapels occupied by the ablest Congre- 
gationalist churches; how much less in small places 
of worship throughout the country! We beseech 
our Independent brethren to bear with our earnest- 
ness on this topic. The primitive practice is plain : 
the authority of apostolic example is admitted. It is 
not allowed us to live in opposition to scripture, and 
make no movement even towards acquiescence in its 
dictates. Let Congregationalists escape from thi3 
confessedly unscriptural state, and proceed forthwith 
to get a numerous eldership. We ask nothing but a 
fulfilment of their own views, to secure identity with 
our practice. If they still say nay, we still say — 
make the attempt, and we cheerfully await the result 
of the experiment. 

But if a plurality of elders, whether called preach- 
ing or ruling, would conduct in our days to Presby- 
terian usage, should it not have done this in the apos- 
tolic age ? That it actually did so, I hope to make 
apparent. 

II. Some of the elders of the primitive churches 
simply ruled, while others both ruled and taught ; so 
that a distinction existed among them of teaching and 
ruling elders. 

I adduce at present one passage, as decisive of the 
point at issue. Paul says, in his first Epistle to Ti- 
mothy, v. 17, 'Let the elders that rule well be 
counted worthy of double honour, especially they who 
labour in the word and doctrine.' Regarding this 
passage, I formerly observed : 6 These words could • 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



21 



suggest to an unbiassed reader only one meaning, 
that all elders who rule well are worthy of abundant 
honour, but especially those of their number who, 
besides ruling well, also labour in word and doctrine. 
Of course the passage so interpreted bears, that of the 
elders who rule well, only some labour in word and 
doctrine ; that is, there are ruling elders, and among 
these teaching elders, as we haye at the present 
day.' 

The meaning of this passage turns on the force of 
the word 'especially; 5 and I haye no great objec- 
tions to the definition of it giyen by Dr TVardlaw. 
He says : ; According to what may, I think, be called 
invariable usage, it must be understood as represent- 
ing those who are described in the latter part of the 
verse, as comprehended under the more general de- 
scription in the former — not as a distinct class of 
persons, but a select portion of the same class, dis- 
tinguished by a specified particularity.' * Be it so. 
The ; general description ' of elders is, that they are 
all rulers — ministers are included in this description — 
and the £ specified particularity ' by which some are 
'distinguished' from the rest is, that, besides ruling, 
1 they labour in word and doctrine.' Dr Wardlaw 
giyes an example, which I admit to be quite in point : 
4 TTe trust in the liying God, who is the Saviour (or 
Preserver) of all men, specially of those that believe. 'f 
c Those that believe,' says Dr "Wardlaw, 4 are in- 
cluded among the all men, but distinguished from the 

* Congregational Independency, p. 213. 
t 1 Tim. nr. 10. 
B 



22 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



rest by their faith/* Exactly so — and they who 
labour in word and doctrine are included among them 
that rule well, but ' distinguished from the rest ' by 
their teaching. If the word c specially ' may mark 
off from men in general a section possessing faith, 
surely it may mark off from rulers in general a 
section who teach, and are distinguished from 
the rest by teaching ; for this latter distinction, 
considerable as it is, is nothing in comparison 
with the gulf between a believer and an infidel. 
We maintain, then, that all elders rule, and that 
some are distinguished from the rest by also 
teaching. 

Dr Davidson, after quoting my remarks (given 
above) on 1 Tirn. v. I7,f says: 'Few would object 
to this reasoning, understood in its obvious sense, 
for a distinction is manifestly implied between those 
elders that rule well, and those who labour in word 
and doctrine.' J He speaks of Presbyterians as 4 prov- 
ing that some elders in the primitive churches ruled, 
while others preached.' c That,' he adds, 6 is a posi- 
tion too manifest to be called in question. Other 
parts of the New Testament would warrant that con- 
clusion, had the text in the Epistle to Timothy been 
wanting.' § Here, then, the matter of fact is con- 
ceded to us. It is acknowledged that our churches 
I'esemble the primitive churches not only in having 
each a plurality of elders, but also in having some 

* Congregational Independency, p. 214. 
t See page 20. 
t Ecclesiastical Polity, p. 183. § Ibid., p. 186. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



23 



elders who confine themselves to ruling, and others 
who perform the duties of teaching. 

What, then, is the difference between us and Dr 
Davidson, and wherein does he think that we are 
wrong? He thinks that though some of the primitive 
elders only ruled, they were entitled to preach. He 
holds that 'the nature of the distinction is merely such 
as arises from the possession of various talents, 
directed to the discharge of different duties, while all 
have an equal right to perform the same functions.'* 
The sum of this statement is, that the elders who did 
not preach possessed the right to do so, but wanted 
the talents ; and so they had been appointed to 
functions for which'their talents did not qualify them. 
They were appointed to preach when they could not 
preach ; and they receded from a duty they had 
undertaken, because they failed in the attempt to 
discharge it. This doctrine seems strange. 

We have sometimes difficulty in getting elders. 
If we told men of eminent but modest worth that 
their appointment would include preaching as well as 
ruling, they would not likely be quicker to enter the 
office ; nor should we overcome their objections proba- 
bly by telling them, < You have only to be appointed 
to preach, and then neglect this duty to which you 
have been solemnly set apart, for this conduct was 
quite common in the' apostolic churches.' I prefer to 
believe that the elders severally did what they were 
severally appointed to do — that their practice corres- 



* Ecclesiastical Polity, p. 1S3. 



24 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



ponded with their appointment, and is to us explana- 
tory of their commission. I think I might stop here, 
but the concessions of our Congregationalist brethren 
encourage me to go farther. 

III. In the primitive churches some elders were 
appointed simply to rule and not to preach. 

The best authorities are agreed, that, in the first 
instance, the office of the eldership had respect only 
to superintendence. Thus, Neander says of elders, 
' They were originally chosen, as in the synagogue, 
not so much for the instruction and edification of the 
church as for taking the lead in its general manage- 
ment.'* I might state at length the grounds of this 
opinion, and cite other high names by which it has 
been countenanced. Bat as Dr Davidson admits the 
fact, I need not spend time in proving admissions. He 
quotes with approbation the saying of Neander, that 
6 the vrpotfrrjvas and the nvfopvyv (ruling and governing) 
evidently exhaust what belonged from the beginning to 
the office of presbyter or bishop, and for which it was 
originally instituted.' j Here Dr Davidson concedes 
that there were elders who were appointed not to preach 
but to rule and govern, and whose office was exhausted 
by these characteristics.^ He thinks that some having 

* Planting of the Christian Church, p. 42. 
t Ecclesiastical Polity, p. 193. 
X In various passages of his work, Dr Davidson expresses the 
same sentiment qualifiedly. Thus, he says, p. 149, 'All the circum- 
stances that have relation to the point, conspire to show that they 
(elders) were chosen, in the first instance, mainly for government.' 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



25 



the gift of teaching, came afterwards to be admitted 
among the ruling eldership, and then, in the case of 
these persons, teaching and ruling were conjoined in 
the office. 6 When the charism (of teaching), he says, 
became an ordinary gift, such as might be attained by 
many christians in the exercise of their abilities, it is 
probable that these teachers were often taken into 
the college of elders, and thus formally constituted 
officers.'* Here is an admission that at one period of 
the apostolic age there were ruling elders, strictly so 
called ; and some introduced among them who both 
ruled and taught officially. In other words, the primi- 
tive churches were then in the same condition, in 
respect to officers, as presbyterian churches are now, 
having ruling elders, and among them teaching elders. 
If Dr Davidson insist that none shall be appointed to 
rule without being appointed also to preach, we are 
entitled, on his own admission, to say, 6 From the be- 
ginning it was not so and since he confesses that, 
under the direction of the apostles, elders were ap- 
pointed simply to superintend, we are entitled to ask 
what has made this practice, which was lawful once, 
unlawful now ? Where have the apostles forbidden, 
in this particular province, a perseverance in their own 
church order ? 

IV. The elders of the primitive churches had among 
them a president. 

In like manner, the elders of our churches have 



* Ecclesiastical Polity, p. 148» 



26 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



their moderator. Here is another feature of identity 
between primitive and presbyterian practice. I am 
spared the necessity of lengthened proof in this case, 
as in others, by the concessions of Independent writers. 
The Rev. Dr Halley, in his Congregational Lecture,* 
says, 6 There were in the synagogues certain men of 
reputation entrusted with the direction of the assem- 
bly, and called rulers. [So,] in the christian churches, 
officers were appointed who had the rule over them. 
. . . The presiding officer, or the person who publicly 
officiated, was called the legate or angel of the syna- 
gogue : [so] each church of Asia Minor had its angel.' 
It is here admitted that the primitive churches had each 
a board of rulers, who were entrusted with direction, 
and that there was a presiding officer, who publicly 
officiated. This account perfectly accords with our 
sessional system, under which we have a company of 
elders for each church, and among these a 'presiding 
officer,' who 6 publicly officiates ;' but how it can be 
reconciled with the present state of Congregational 
churches, I am unable to comprehend. 

Dr Wardlaw says, after discussing various opinions 
about the angels of the seven Asiatic churches, ' There 
remain two suppositions, in one or other of which it 
appears we must acquiesce. The first is that of those 
who hold that at that time there was only one pastor, 
elder, overseer, or bishop, in each of the seven churches 
of Asia. The second is, that in the eldership of these 
churches there was at that early period in the church's 
history a president — a primus inter pares — to whom it 

* Page 63. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



27 



is that the epistles respectively are addressed.'* But 
Dr Wardlaw gives up with the one-elder explanation, 
and therefore, in his own language, he c must acqui- 
esce' in the conclusion that the elders of a primitive 
church had a president among them. Dr Davidson 
attaches little consequence to the matter ; but he is 
willing that ' one person among the elders be invested 
with perpetual presidency, by a voluntary arrange- 
ment on the part of all.' *(• Our Congregational bre- 
thren are very liberal to us. They have given us for 
each church a company of elders. They have given 
us ruling elders and teaching elders. They have 
given us elders expressly appointed to rule only. 
And, finally, they have supplied us with a moderator 
for each of our sessions. I do not perceive how these 
concessions can be explained away ; and they leave 
little to be demanded or established by us on behalf 
of our sessional system. 

V. The practice of churches shows that there is a 
felt necessity for ruling elders. 

Even those who speak against them cannot dispense 
with them ; they will transform nominal deacons into 
actual elders, rather than want them. £ It belongs to 
the duty of the deacon,' says Dr Wardlaw, 6 to accom- 
pany the supply of the means of comfortable subsis- 
tence with such words of soothing consolation and 
encouragement, or of salutary admonition, as the po- 
verty supplied, or the affliction relieved, or the cir- 

* Congregational Independency, pp. 174, 175. 
f Ecclesiastical Polity, page 38. 



28 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP* 



cumstances and character of the individual or the 
family may require, and, at the same time, by prayer 
and thanksgiving, to draw out the gratitude/ * etc. 
Here we have the sick calling for the deacons, instead 
of the elders of the church, and we have deacons, in 
lieu of elders, praying over the sick. 

But surely Dr Wardlaw does not mean to say, that 
his description bounds the spiritual duties actually 
assigned to deacons. Is it not the case, that they visit 
the sick just as elders do, whether alms are to be 
given or not ? Is it not the fact, that they prepare 
matters of judgment for the final sentence of the 
church — a duty which Drs Wardlaw and Davidson 
assign expressly to ministers? Is it not so, that they 
examine applicants for admission into church fellow- 
ship, and announce hours of meeting for that object? 
And if deacons do all this, what can elders do more ? 
"We have seen deacons of late discharging still higher 
functions in Scotland. Congregationalists in England 
make no secret of the fact, that in many instances 
their deacons get all the work of elders, at least. 

1 It is true,' says the Rev. J. A. James of 
Birmingham, ' that by the usages of our churches 
many things have been added to the duties of the 
office (of deacon) beyond its original design; but 
this is mere matter of expediency.' f What, then, 
are some of the things which have been added to the 
deacon's proper functions? i A multitude of duties,' 
says Dr Campbell, of the Tabernacle, London, c con- 



* Page 143. 



f Christian Fellowship, p. 130. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



29 



nected with the worship and the house of God, have 
been attached to the office as a matter of conve- 
nience and utility. This scheme is without any 
express scripture authority; and we think that the 
scriptures permit, if they do not require, an arrange- 
ment somewhat different. TTe are most decidedly in 
favour of a division of labour.'* Here we learn that 
deacons are made to perform a c multitude of duties 
connected with the worship and the house of God;' 
in other words, they are made spiritual office-bearers, 
like our elders. They do the work of elders and their 
own too ; and, with the eloquent author just cited, we 
are decidedly in favour of a division of labour. The 
same author says of these officers, 4 that they have a 
right to the affectionate confidence of the pastor. He will 
wisely and prudently consider and treat them as his 
privy council ; he will make them parties to all his 
spiritual concerns ; and they, in turn, will cleave to 
him with an affectionate fidelity, cheerfully sharing 
with him the responsibility, and feeling it an honour 
to bear his burdens.' Would not this be a very good 
description of a minister and his session ? J They 
have a right, secondly,' says Dr Campbell, 1 to the 
respectful and implicit confidence of the people. This is 
essential to the proper discharge of their duties. Let 
the people support their authority by all proper 
means. ... It belongs to them in every good 
work to lead the way ; and, while they lead in truth 
and love, the people should promptly follow.'f Did 



* Church Fellowship, p. GO. 



t Page 62, 



30 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



we ever ask a more comprehensive or authoritative 
guidance for the ruling elder? But Dr Campbell 
assigns duties to deacons which, in our Presbyterian 
congregations, would not be tolerated in any office- 
bearer. 'When additions are made to office,' he 
says, c in churches already organised, considerations 
of peace and prudence require that the nomination 
should lie with the existing officers, with the privity 
of the pastors. They are the fittest persons to select 
appropriate colleagues: they know the duty; they 
know the people ; they know the talents, tempers, 
and, in some measure, the characters of individuals ; 
they know the men who will be likely to work in 
efficient harmony with the pastor and with them- 
selves : they will generally be able to anticipate the 
popular choice, and to fix on whom the people would 
fix, while their more extended and accurate know- 
ledge will enable them occasionally to avoid fixing 
where the people would fix unwisely and unsafely.' 
Among us, this scheme of preconcerted and official 
nomination to scriptural office would be reckoned a 
most serious interference with popular election, 
6 Every pastor among us (says the Rev. Cotton 
Mather, one of the early Independent ministers of 
New England) will allow me that there is much work 
to be done for God in preparing of what belongs to 
the admission and exclusion of church members, in 
carefully inspecting the way and walk of them all, and 
the first appearance of evil with them, in preventing 
the very beginnings of ill blood among them, and in- 
structing of all from house to house more privately, 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



31 



and warning of all persons unto the things more pe- 
culiarly incumbent on them; in visiting all the afflicted, 
and informing of, and consulting with the ministers 
for the welfare of the whole flock. . . . Moreover, 
they will acknowledge to me that it is an usual thing 
for a prudent and faithful pastor himself to single 
out some of the more grave, solid, aged brethren in 
his congregation, to assist him in many parts of this 
work on many occasions in a year ; nor will such a 
pastor ordinarily do any important thing in his 
government, without having first heard the counsel 
of such brethren. In short, there are few discreet 
pastors but what make many occasional ruling elders 
every year. . . . What objection can be made 
against the lawfulness ? I think none can be made 
against the usefulness of such a thing. Truly, for my 
part, if the fifth chapter of the first epistle to Timothy 
would not bear me out, when conscience both of my 
duty and my weakness made me desire such assist- 
ance, I would see whether .the first chapter of Deute- 
ronomy would not. Such things as these have been 
offered unto the consideration of the diversely per- 
suaded ; and, accordingly, in a meeting of ministers 
that had been diversely persuaded in this matter, at 
Cambridge, an unanimous vote was passed for these 
conclusions.' * 

Whatever these agents, having 6 a multitude of 
duties attached to their office connected with the 
worship and the house of God/ may be called, 

* Ecclesiastical History of New England, book v. page 41. 



82 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



and whatever they may be considered, they have 
in truth the engagements of spiritual office, and 
want only the encouragement of its sanctions to 
lighten their burdens and promote their success. Is 
it to be supposed that Christ would impose such duties 
on any section of his servants, and yet deny them 
the benefit of an express and authoritative commis- 
sion ? His church has to be superintended as cer- 
tainly as his gospel has to be preached ; and shall he 
not, then, furnish credentials to them that rule well, 
as he confessedly does to them who labour in word 
and doctrine? 

VI. Historical testimony is in favour of a Ruling 
Eldership. 

This argument might be stated at great length. 
Here I shall adduce only one of the earliest and most 
convincing attestations. 

Justin Martyr, a christian philosopher, converted 
about the year 132, and martyred about 163, has 
occasion, in his pleadings for the persecuted chris- 
tians, to give repeated descriptions of their worship. 
A resolute opponent of the ruling eldership (the late 
Dr Wilson of Philadelphia,) thus translates one of 
these passages: 'Upon that, which is called the day 
of the Sun, there is an assembling together of all of the 
respective cities, or residing in the country ; and the 
recollections of the apostles, and the writings of all 
the prophets are read, as long as time permits ; when 
the reader has ceased, he who presides, 6 rtposarug, by 
a discourse, foot, Xoyov, admonishes and exhorts to the 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



S3 



imitation of things that are good. We then all rise 
up together, and offer prayer, and as already 
mentioned, when the prayer is ended, bread is 
brought, and wine and water. And he ichohas the 
first place, o koczgtw^ again prays and gives thanks 
according to his ability, ocftj dvvafug a-j-y, and the 
people add their approbation, saying. Amen. And a 
distribution and a delivery of the things, upon which 
thanks have been given, are made to all, and sent to 
those who are absent by the deacons.' He then 
speaks of the lifting of a collection for widows, 
orphans, prisoners, and strangers, — which is deposited 
Kapa -w xposffruTi, 1 with the j? resident. 1 '* 

Dr 'Wilson agrees with us, that each church had a 
number of presbyters, and here he quotes a passage 
from Justin Martyr, which bears, that only one of 
these administered the word and sacraments. Is this 
authority, then, against us ? It has more the aspect 
surely of being on our side. If, in the opinion of Dr 
Wilson, the elders had presided by turns, there would 
have been room for alleging, that now one conducted 
worship, and now another, and that they were all 
public teachers. But he looks on the presidency as 
having been a permanent distinction, and tells us, 
that in the primitive ages 'it was accounted one 
characteristic of the orthodoxy of a church, that it 
could show a line of presiding presbyters or bishops 
from the days of the apostles/ (p. 92.) The amount 
of this testimony therefore is, that each church had a 
company of elders, and that one of these presided at 
* Primitive Government of Christian Churches, p. 19. 



34 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



meetings of his brethren, and conducted the public 
worship of the Lord's-day. 

This testimony of Justin Martyr is in every view 
highly important. He is a very early writer. He 
was a man of extensive and accurate information. 
He professedly described the condition and worship, 
not of a single congregation, but in general, of chris- 
tian churches. And Dr Wilson admits, c that when 
he wrote his two apologies for the christians which 
were within fifty years of John, there were only 
presbyters, whereof one in each church was the 
presiding presbyter, who administered the eucharist, 
and deacons, who carried it to the people,' (p. 227.) 
Dr Wilson should have said, that one in each church 
preached, prayed, and administered the eucharist ; for 
all these duties are equally ascribed to one function- 
ary. Each church had then a number of elders, of 
whom one only conducted public worship. What 
evidence, not inspired, could be more decisive of the 
question at issue ? 

If it be said, that more than one elder certainly 
preached in some of the churches ; the reply is easy, 
that some churches have two or more ministers still, 
and along with them a company of ruling elders. 

I might adduce like testimonies from Cyprian, 
Bishop of Carthage, who embraced Christianity in 
246 ; from Origen, who was born at Alexandria 185 ; 
from Hilary, deacon of the Church of Borne, who 
wrote in the fourth century ; and from Augustin in 
the fourth century, whose writings show at least that 
he and many other pastors had elders who did not 



THE E CLING ELDERSHIP. 



preach associated with them in the superintendence 
of their flocks. 

I will notice three objections to the system of 
ruling elders. They seem to me the only objections 
that have any plausibility. 

1. Paul requires that a bishop be 1 apt to teach/* 
Does not this show that all bishops should be teach- 
ing bishops ? — I answer, first, that there are various 
kinds of teaching, and that all elders have need of apt- 
ness to communicate instruction in various ways. They 
should be apt to train the young, to comfort the sor- 
rowful, to convince the gainsaying. I answer, se- 
condly, that Dr Davidson, and others who think with 
him, have quite as urgent reason to understand the 
teaching in this modified sense as we can have. It is 
Dr Davidson's theory that though all the primitive 
elders had a right to preach, some of them did not 
exercise the right, because they wanted the requisite 
talents. Why then, if public teaching be meant, did 
Paul declare aptness to teach to be indispensable, and 
yet ordain men to the office by whom no such qualifi- 
cations were possessed ? The door of escape which 
will give Dr Davidson relief from this difficulty, will 
suffice for our release also. 

2. When Paul requires double or ample honour for 
elders that rule well, this honour is explained to mean 
salary, or pecuniary remuneration ; and it is argued 
that salary would not have been asked for any elders 
but preaching elders. 

* 1 Tim. in. 2. 



36 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



On this subject I formerly said : It must be 
admitted that the word translated { honour/ does 
sometimes denote pay or wages, and that the allu- 
sions which follow, to the feeding of the ox and 
the rewarding of the labourer, seem to favour this 
interpretation. Some of the best expositors, however, 
quite independently of the question now agitated, 
think this a low and narrow explanation of the lan- 
guage. They understand the apostle to say, that the 
office-bearers mentioned ought to be honoured in a 
way becoming them, as the ox and the labourer have 
their appropriate remuneration. But it must be care- 
fully observed, that this question about the meaning 
of 4 honour,' does not affect in the slightest degree 
the countenance which this passage apparently ren- 
ders to the distinction of teaching and ruling elders. 
Grant that honour means pecuniary reward. The 
apostle, on this supposition, enjoins, that ample recom- 
pense be given to elders who spend a proportion of their 
time in ruling well, and especially to those elders who 
occupy themselves more entirely with the affairs of 
the church, by not only ruling well, but also labouring 
in word and doctrine. Where the office-bearers were 
poor men, as most of them are known to have been, 
there was nothing in this equitable compensation for 
lost time very unreasonable or improbable, and no- 
thing, certainly, to obliterate that distinction between 
ruling and teaching elders which the language of the 
apostle so clearly expresses. Surely the functions of 
elders are one thing, and the fittest mode of honouring 
them another. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



s: 



Having quoted the above passage, Dr "Wardlaw says, 
' I have only to ask, for here lies my argument, whether 
from any other passages than this, any precept or 
example can be brought for the remuneration in the 
way of maintenance of any officer of the church 
besides such as preached the gospel V * In reply, I 
observe — (1) That scripture nowhere says public 
teachers alone shall be remunerated for their labours. 
(2) Much of the language of Paul on this subject 
would apply equally to ruling as to teaching elders. 
He lays down the principle, that they who sow 
spiritual things may reap carnal things ; and the 
office of ruling elder is spiritual, in its character and 
services. (3) Paul reverts in his argument to the 
ancient economy, under which support was provided 
for 'those who ministered about holy things,' although 
they might have no charge of preaching. (4) Paul, so 
far from restricting his doctrine about remuneration 
to a particular department of work, lays down the ge- 
neral maxim (in immediate connection with 1 Tim. v. 
] 7), that the ' labourer is worthy of his reward.' 
TTho can wonder after this, that he should claim a 
pecuniary acknowledgment for poor elders, sacrificing 
their business in superintending the church ? 

But the question, whatever force it may have, may 
be addressed to Dr Davidson with equal propriety as 
to myself. He maintains that though all elders might 
have taught publicly, many of them did not so teach. 
"Why then did Paul claim compensation for these, 
when they did not ' preach the gospelf "Would they 

* Congregational Independency, p. 210. 
C 



38 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



be paid for holding functions which they did not 
fulfil? 

Let us suppose that Dr Wardlaw and Dr Davidson 
carry into effect their own view, of having a company 
of pastors with preaching talents, or without them, 
for each church. Would all these pastors get 
abundant pay? Dr Davidson thinks that such muni- 
ficence would be unnecessary. He thinks that, in- 
stead of double pay, half pay might suffice in 
many instances. Nay, in a proportion of cases, he 
would withhold pecuniary honour altogether. He 
says, 6 all need not be supported by the church/ * 
And when Congregationalists shall have got eiders as 
we have, 'not supported by the church,' how shall an 
objection brought against our practice be inapplicable 
to their own? 

3. It is objected that the system of ruling eldership 
does not work well, and that our elders in general 
are equally incompetent to teach and to govern. 

I have not claimed infallibility for elders. In poor 
districts of the country, a difficulty is sometimes expe- 
rienced in getting men who have time and attainments 
suitable for the office. But these are the very cases in 
which it would be still more difficult to engage and sup- 
port a plurality of teaching presbyters. In many parts 
of the country, and especially in the towns, elders are 
invaluable ; and it would be difficult to say whether 
the eldership or the ministry be most essential to the 
prosperity of our churches. What shall we think 

* Ecclesiastical Polity, p. 369. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



30 



then of such charges as the following being brought 
against them by Dr Davidson ? c Judging from the 
actual duties done by ruling elders, we should say that 
their services deserve no remuneration. As far as our 
observation has reached, the majority are the tools of 
the bishop. In church courts they commonly vote as 
he votes. His sentiments are their sentiments. Even 
w r hen inclined to think and act independently, they 
are restrained in Synods and prevented in many cases 
from being troublesome, as it is called, to the clergy. 5 * 
I say, with all the calmness and solemnity of witness- 
bearing, that so far as my knowledge extends, this 
representation is the reverse of the truth. In count- 
less instances,' I have admired the independent votes 
of elders: and in presbyterial and synodical meet- 
ings, the constant effort, frequently carried to excess, 
is to elicit a free expression of the convictions of 
our eldership. Not deserve remuneration ! The good 
Lord will judge differently. He will not forget their 
work and labour of love. Does Dr Davidson not 
feel that he incurs a solemn responsibility in hurling 
such imputations against a body of men of whom 
thousands and tens of thousands are ready to testify, 
that they serve the church of Christ with disinterested 
devotedness 1 

When Dr Davidson has such an estimate of our ses- 
sions, it is no wonder that he impugns the purity of 
our churches. He says of Congregationalism, that 
6 the purity of her communion raises her far above 



* Ecclesiastical Polity, p. 194. 



40 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP, 



those denominations which, though outwardly com- 
pact, are deficient in the vital essence of the unity 
demanded of God. * . . Let all objectors to our 
form of government attend particularly to one feature 
of it, that a church consists only of those who give 
credible evidence of true piety, and many of their ad- 
verse remarks will be withheld, or lose their point. 
We as Congregationalists endeavour with all careful- 
ness that none other should belong to the spiritual 
society. Those on whom has descended the sanctify- 
ing influence of the Spirit, are the only acknowledged 
subjects of our communion/ * 

This is high praise ; as much, surely, as could be 
said of any church not in glory. And what has Dr 
Davidson to say of Presbyterian churches ? Those 
of us 6 who are unconnected with the state (he observes) 
allow that the members admitted into churches should 
be such as profess their knowledge and faith in Christ, 
together with their subjection to him in ordinances ; 
or, in other words, those who are true christians in the 
judgment of charity. We fear, however, that though 
they admit in theory the scriptural qualifications of 
church members, they forget them in practice. Their 
system, however favourable it may seem to the 
scriptural standard on this vital point, has never 
secured holiness in the members to any consider- 
able extent. As long as a palpable line of distinc- 
tion is not drawn between the hearers composing a 
congregation, and while candidates for the ministry 
enter on their studies for the office without giving 

* Page 409. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



41 



evidence of personal holiness, this denomination 
cannot pretend to attain the character they admit to 
be so desirable.' * 

I am glad that I can not merely cherish a favour- 
able impression of Independent churches in Scotland, 
but from intimate knowledge can speak confidently of 
the piety of not a few of them. But the same familiar 
and prolonged acquaintance with facts, warrants me 
in saying that Independents take no precautions 
that we do not take, or for which we have not others 
equally efficient, to secure pure communion. I never 
knew a person free of scandal leave us, who was not 
readily welcomed by an Independent church. In 
those benevolent exertions and devotional meetings 
which are regarded as indicative of piety, I do not see 
that Congregationalists (most favourably as I can 
speak of them) have any more than their own propor- 
tion of numerical strength. 6 1 freely admit,' says 
Dr Wardlaw, 6 that a minister and his session, duly 
impressed with the importance of purity in fellowship, 
and acting conscientiously, have a great deal in their 
power. It were most uncandicl to deny or to ques- 
tion that, with due care, their success may be equal to 
that of any Independent church.' f And where is the 
proof that it is not equal ? We have much to confess 
and lament before God: and happy will it be for us if 
the censures of others lead us to reply, not in angry 
language but in improved conduct. Yet viewing the 
case in relation to men, and as regards other religious 
bodies, I am desirous, for the sake of our Congrega- 

* Page 63. f Pa § e 326. 



42 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



tionalist brethren themselves, to disabuse them of un- 
kind impressions ; and I therefore tell them explicitly 
and positively, that such accusations as I have cited 
are untrue. If Dr Davidson adhere to them, 1 call 
on him to substantiate them, or to adduce so much as 
a single fact in Justification of his invidious and cen- 
sorious comparisons. 

In replying to the strictures of Drs Wardlaw and 
Davidson, I have spoken freely, for I am not permit- 
ted, in defending what I believe to be a scriptural and 
most important institution, to suppress or compromise 
my convictions. But I entertain high respect for these 
writers. Dr Wardlaw has perhaps done more by his 
example than any other controversialist of his day, to 
denude controversy of its venom, and to show how 
possible it is for a writer to do justice at once to his 
argument and to his opponent. 

Dr Davidson sometimes indulges in acrimonious 
language, and, like others with whom it is an honour 
to be associated, I have got a share of his disrespect- 
ful diction.* But I will not permit a little rudeness 

* 1 It is curious/ says Dr Davidson, * to observe how the main 
point is kept out of sight in King's Treatise on the Ruling Elder- 
ship, where the real fact of debate between Congregationalists and 
Presbyterians is never stated. , In the second edition, from which 
Dr Davidson makes his quotations, that which he calls the real fact 
of debate, (whether elders who did not preach had the right to do 
so,) is both stated and discussed, in my strictures on Dr Smyth. 
Dr Davidson is incapable of doing me deliberate injustice ; and 
therefore his misrepresentation is the result of mere oversight. 
Such mistakes, however, are unhappy, and they are damaging to 
the honour and influence of controversy. 



THE RULING ELDESSHIP. 



43 



to myself to abate my grateful sense of the services 
-vhich he has rendered to christian society by his writ- 
ings : nor will I permit it to keep back the acknow- 
ledgment even in regard to the particular work 
in question, that bitterness is its occasional fault, and 
not its essential or pervading character. The writer 
leaves no doubt on the mind of a careful reader, that 
he has aimed to find and develop the truth of God ; 
and I regard his treatise as an important contribution 
to its department of theology. 

Throughout the preceding pages I have, for the 
sake of brevity, adduced sparingly positive evidence 
where the views I advocated seemed to me to be con- 
ceded. I hope, in another treatise, to discuss the 
same subject more fully and satisfactorily. 



44 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



PAST II. 
DUTIES OF ELDERS. 
CHAPTER I. 

DUTIES COMMON TO THEM WITH OTHERS — - DEPORTMENT IN 
SECULAR AFFAIRS, GOVERNMENT OF THEIR OWN FAMILIES. 

Elders have duties common to them with others, 
which do not immediately respect their office, but of 
which the performance or neglect very seriously 
affects their official standing* Here I will remark on 
their deportment in secular affairs, and on the govern- 
ment of their own families. 

Sect. 1. — Most of our elders are engaged in busi- 
ness ; no small proportion of them are tradesmen, and 
have to say, with an apostle, ' These hands have 
ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were 
with me.' * It is of great importance that christians, 
and especially christian elders, should so deport them- 
selves in worldly transactions, as not to convey the 
impression of being worldly characters. Of course 



* Acts xx. 34. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



45 



it is not meant that they should be remiss in their 
temporal callings, or place themselves at the mercy of 
any extortioners who would practise on their simpli- 
city. Consideration, and diligence, and frugality, in 
prosecuting their secular vocations, are not only al- 
lowable, but positively incumbent, that they may 
walk honestly towards them that are without, that 
they may provide for their own families, and that 
they may have to give to him that needeth. Pecu- 
niary embarrassments in any circumstances, — and, 
above all, when resulting from culpable indiscretion, 
— form a decided obstruction to an elder's usefulness. 
A due regard, however, to such considerations, is per- 
fectly compatible with an estimable deportment in 
business communications. It is undesirable that an 
elder be characteristically a hard man, — that he pass 
in the commercial circle for what is there termed a 
Jew. A noted greed of gain, a keenness above com- 
mon, in looking to self-interest, — these are not traits 
which recommend his ecclesiastical position. Nor is 
it certain that his outward circumstances themselves 
will be thus benefited. Generally speaking, there is 
little gained by that gait and bearing which evince 
avarice. A man whom it is difficult to deal with, is 
not, therefore, in all cases or most cases, the more 
prosperous in his dealings. To beset, and importune, 
and flatter, in driving a good bargain, — to hesitate, 
and stickle, and argue, on the last item of contested 
terms, while a reluctance is manifested to cede ad- 
vantage equalling the eagerness to take advantage, — 
all this may occasionally succeed, but the success is 



4G 



THE EULINGr ELDEKSHIP. 



limited, and is commonly neutralised by injurious 
tendencies. How much better is it to shun the sem- 
blance of a sordid cupidity— to evince a still greater 
dread of wronging than of being wronged—- and ever 
to maintain, broad and wide, the distinction between 
a reasonable industry and insatiable covetousness ! 
In such praiseworthy conduct there may be nothing 
of positive piety — no exhibition whatever of religious 
truth ; but there is a beautiful harmony with religious 
profession : and, to act otherwise, , and exhibit an 
unfavourable contrast with many secular men in their 
own province — the only province in which numbers 
of them meet with christians at all — is dishonouring 
to our holy faith, and brings religious principle under 
obloquy and doubt. Let our elders, then, as busi- 
ness men, walk circumspectly. Let them remember 
in the market-place their relation to the sanctuary, 
and do nothing for gain derogatory to godliness. By 
all means, let them be diligent in business ; yet so as 
to be 4 fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.' * 

Sect. 2. — Most of our elders are heads of families ; 
and there is no requisite to efficient rule in the church, 
on which the apostle Paul insists more particularly 
than the proper government of one's own house : 4 A 
bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one 
wife 6 One that ruleth well his own house, having 
his children in subjection, with all gravity ; for if a 
man know not how to rule his own house, how shall 



* Rom. xii. 11. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



47 



he take care of the church of Gocl V * These state- 
ments are strong and explicit on the subject to which 
they have respect, and we need not be surprised at the 
consequence which they assign to domestic superin- 
tendence. A man's family are so identified with 
himself, that their good or ill behaviour must reflect 
honour or dishonour on his own head. When mem- 
bers of the church know that he commands little re- 
spect at home, and that all is insubordination and 
anarchy under his own roof, they cannot be much 
disposed, by acquaintance with such facts, to yield 
him, where his claims are weaker, a willing subjec- 
tion in the Lord. Besides, as the passages quoted 
above suggest, much the same qualifications are ne- 
cessary to efficiency in both situations ; and a proved 
incapacity in the one, is therefore a valid ground of 
exclusion from the other. Both require a happy 
combination of kindness and firmness ; in both, a 
measure of system, and constancy in adhering to it, 
are quite indispensable ; and if the family suffer from 
the absence of such attributes in the regulation of its 
interests, how shall the church prosper under the 
identical disqualifications ? 

Such observations may, indeed, be over- extended. 
A wise father may have a foolish son ; and every 
elder is not to be denuded of his office whose paren- 
tal hopes have been miserably blasted by filial mis- 
conduct. Certainly not ; or Aaron must have lost 
the priesthood, when Nadab and Abihu offered strange 



* 1 Tim. iii. 2, etc. 



48 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



fire before the Lord and the rebellion of Absalom 
would have been its own justification, showing, by the 
fact of its existence, that David was not competent to 
be king of Israel ; and, in a word, our own church 
would have been deprived, by this test, of some 
of the best men who have ever adorned its official 
stations. I might easily give examples, in confirma- 
tion of the last statement, but I refrain from citing 
these honoured names in a connexion so painful. All 
such modifications and exceptions, however, being 
admitted, the apostolic rule is clear in its import, and 
searching in its application. When a child of many 
pious prayers and counsels turns out ill, the excessive 
odiousness of the result causes it to be observed and 
mentioned, and hence the cases appear numerous, 
from being all known. The dispensations of Provi- 
dence bear out, as a general truth, the statement — 
6 Train up a child in the way he should go, and when 
he is old he will not depart from it.' j On the whole, 
the better class of society have sprung from the better 
class of society ; and does not this show 6 that the chil- 
dren of God's servants continue, and that their seed is 
established before him V J It must be farther remem- 
bered, that all good men have their failings, and that, 
if their besetting sin should happen to be parental 
remissness, the mere fact of their being good men 
will not make that sin less heinous in itself, or less 
ruinous in its consequences, Eli was a good man, 
but he was an erring father ; and hence the judgment 



Lev. x. 1. t Prov. xxii. 6. % Ps. cii. 28. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



4? 



of God fell very dreadfully on him and on his off- 
spring. To all this it may be added, that there is 
much which christian parents have it in their power 
to secure. They can uphold the stated and regular 
observance of family worship, If their children are 
not of weak intelligence, they can lodge very much of 
scriptural statement even in the infant mind. And, 
therefore, if the devotional exercises in an elder's house 
be irregular and intermittent ; or if his family, when 
applying for admission into the church, be found, on 
examination, to be ignorant of revealed truth and un- 
familiar with its language, at a loss to express one bible 
doctrine, or prove it by a single text, and still halting 
and blundering when the commonest passages have 
been hinted at and half repeated, there is a demon- 
strated and radical evil in such household administra- 
tion, and an imperative call for humiliation and 
amendment. But who of us has not need to institute 
such reformation? In what circle of kindred or 
friends is there not too little of religious discourse, too 
little of devotional spirit and engagement, too little 
of dissuasion from sin, consolation under trial, and 
stimulus in duty ? In the prospect of death, men set 
their house in order ; but the best preparation for that 
solemn issue is to order it well in life. Let our 
habitual converse with endeared relatives have a 
kindness, and faithfulness, and sacredness, befitting 
the prospect of soon parting from them, with an 
ulterior hope of again meeting them — to part no more 
for ever. Would we be found with the seed of Abra- 
ham, and inherit the promise of having our families 



50 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



blessed in him ? Then let us copy that faithfulness 
which elicited the acknowledgment : ' I know him, 
that he will command his children and his household 
after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, 
to do justice and judgment ; that the Lord may bring 
upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.' * 
Would we be favoured with Joshua in guiding a 
chosen people to a promised country — a spiritual 
Israel to a heavenly Canaan ? Let us adopt his pious 
resolution : ' As for me and my house, we will serve 
the Lord.' f Would we sing with David of mercy, 
as well as of judgment? With him let us exclaim : 
' I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O 
when wilt thou come unto me ? I will walk within 
my house with a perfect heart/ $ A right discharge 
of public duty will always dispose us to visit our 
habitations, and not sin ; and, on the other hand, 
the transition will be appropriate and joyous from 
the private tabernacle of the upright to the public 
tabernacle of the congregation — from a dwelling of 
Jacob to the gates of Zion. 

It is time, however, to speak of the duties which 
devolve on elders as such, and which directly respect 
their official appointment. These duties are per- 
formed by elders individually, or in their collective and 
sessional capacity. It may be well to consider these 
two classes of duties distinctively and in succession. 



* Gen. xviii. 19. t Josh. xxiv. 15. J Ps. ci. 1, etc. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



51 



CHAPTER II 
ornciAL duties or elders viewed INDIVIDUALLY — EACH 

HIS DISTRICT — DISTRICT ROLL-BOOK — VISITATION OF 
CHURCH MEMBERS — VISITATION OF THE SICK — EXPOSTULA- 
TION WITH OFFENDERS — ATTENTIONS TO THE YOUNG — 
PRATER MEETINGS. 

Sect. 1. — Each elder should have a portion of the 
congregation, residing within a defined district, com- 
mitted to his special superintendence. An arrange- 
ment of this character is absolutely indispensable 
to the good of the church. If all the elders have 
charge of all the members, each will trust to another ; 
and the infallible result will be, that congregational 
duty will fall into confusion and neglect. Let no 
elder, then, want his district ; without it he is a sen- 
tinel at large, or, in other words, no sentinel at all. 
The district of each elder should be of such extent as 
he can effectively overtake. If it be too large, he 
will not do it justice ; and when he cannot do all the 
duty, he will find a ready excuse for not doing almost 
any duty, and for discharging his whole trust in a 
negligent and cursory manner. A precise rule is not 
attainable in such cases, because elders have very 
different measures of time at their command ; and 
what is moderation for one, might be excess for 
another ; but, generally speaking, no eider should be 
charged with the inspection of more than twenty, or, 
at the most, twenty-five families. 

Sect. 2. — Each elder, to whose care a section of 



52 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



the congregation has been assigned, should also have 
a district roll-booh. Some might get on without it ; 
but in most cases it is necessary, and in all cases use- 
ful. This roll should not be a meagre list of names. 
The bounds of the district, with the localities it com- 
prehends, should be first of all stated. After the names 
of the members, their place of residence, their occupa- 
tion, the number and ages of their children should be 
all notified ; and hints may be subjoined of any pecu- 
liarities in their circumstances and history, which a 
minister or other friend would find advantageous in 
visiting and addressing them. There is no difficulty 
in giving this plan effect. District roll-books are 
now on sale, which indicate by their headings how 
they are to be filled up, and leave no room for per- 
plexity or mistake. A degree of carefulness is required 
in keeping them correct, as church members come 
and leave ; and, even while they remain in the same 
congregation, often shift from one district to another ; 
but if the lists be corrected frequently, they will be 
corrected easily, and a reluctance to undergo this 
small amount of trouble would be a sorry token of 
fitness for the eldership.* 

It may seem trivial to dilate on a matter of 
statistics and registration; but even morals have 

* I beg to call most favourable attention to Mr D. Robertson's 
Church Stationery, including the Communicant's Roll-Book, the 
Elder's or Deacon's District Roll-Book, the Clergyman's Visiting- 
Book, etc. A more general use of these auxiliaries to ecclesiastical 
superintendence would do much to originate or promote im- 
portant reformation in our churches. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



53 



their mechanism essential to their working, and the 
instrumentality now recommended is of first con- 
sequence to spiritual superintendence. Its impor- 
tance will become more manifest, as the scheme 
of which it forms a part becomes more fully deve- 
loped. But our elders will bear with us meanwhile, 
when we entreat them in no case, and on no account, 
to want this tabular view of their districts, or fail in 
bringing them up to the existing date with scrupulous 
fidelity. If professors in our colleges keep catalogues 
of their students, and carefully record their attendance 
and appearances, with every circumstance affecting a 
just estimate of their respective standings — if our 
elders themselves, in their secular callings, not only 
register the names of parties with whom they deal, 
but preserve the most exact account of every circum- 
stance in every transaction — is it too much to expect 
that a kindred vigilance be dislayed, and similar 
memoranda preserved, by responsible stewards in the 
house of God? 

Sect. 3. — The preceding suggestion will be the 
more easily acted on, if attention be paid to another, 
which we now subjoin, in exhorting elders to visit 
their districts. The elder may accompany the mini- 
ster, as is very common, in his regular ministerial 
visitation ; but the elder should also visit his district 
alone. The minister has to inspect all the congrega- 
tion, and a considerable time is required to complete 
the circuit of all its families. He is often grieved, 
indeed, that his periodical calls, owing to the pres- 

D 



54 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



sure of other engagements, and the magnitude of his 
charge, are so widely separated. But if an elder 
have a small district, he can, without undue effort, 
see all whom it comprises in a shorter time, and there- 
fore more frequently. It is also prejudicial to the 
status of elders, that they be never seen unless in 
attendance with the minister, as if their presence were 
only subsidiary and accessory, and too unimportant 
to be valued by itself. To all this it may be added, 
that an elder may say much in the minister's absence, 
which could not be so well said in his presence. 
There may be an opportunity of removing false im- 
pressions about his ministrations which obstruct their 
success, and especially of enforcing attendance on his 
bible classes, or other means of improvement, without 
any appearance of personal compliment. 

In every view, then, it is desirable that an elder 
visit his district apart. To promote the performance 
of this service, the ultimatum of time allowed for it 
should be defined, and a regulation should be adopted, 
that every elder see ail the members in his appro- 
priated section at least every six months. A day, 
also, should be fixed for receiving from every elder 
a report, written or oral, of his half-yearly visitation. 
Is it objected that the proposal requires too much? 
Not, it may be answered, if the district be small ; and 
especially not too much, if, in ordinary circumstances, 
the elder simply look in upon the family, and ask 
how it fares with them. Persons who have other 
ends in view — who are prosecuting, for example, a 
political canvass, can ransack hundreds of abodes in a 



THE RULING ELDEBSHIP. 



55 



few days or hours ; and can an elder not see twenty 
or thirty families, to whom he stands most sacredly 
related, in the course of six months ? But the mere 
seeing of them, it may be objected, could do little 
good ; and, unless they are to be exhorted and prayed 
with, the visit may as well be dispensed with. The 
objection is not valid. A flying visit, where nothing 
more is practicable, will suffice to preserve acquain- 
tance with the people, and to keep all matters of 
registration in thorough order. But these are minor 
benefits, and come far short of exhausting the happy 
results of an elder's stated attentions, however tran- 
sient. The elder misconceives his position, who makes 
so little account of his own calls. He does not know 
how kindly they are taken — how they endear him to 
abodes familiar with his accents, and every way aug- 
ment his influence with the flock of which he is an 
overseer. Let him try the plan ; let him give it a 
fair and full trial. It will commend itself; it will 
present opportunities of doing good which he never 
thought of, and which could not be foreseen. Let 
him not defer his visits till the last month of the 
allotted six, and then be driven from them by some 
untoward casualty. Let him accomplish them the 
first month, and if he can introduce another visit into 
the remaining five, so much the better. But what- 
ever may be thought of times and modes, let the ser- 
vice be performed. With all the urgency compatible 
with respect, I do say— visit the people. I have other 
suggestions to give, other duties to dwell upon, but 
they all suppose and require a frequent communica- 



56 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



tion between members of the church and their chosen 
superintendents. Suspend this intercourse, and all 
effort relaxes, all interest ceases. The electric chain 
is broken, and the current of celestial fire is arrested 
and lost. 

An elder should attend to all in his district, and to 
all impartially ; but even a perfect impartiality does 
not suppose a literal equality in his attentions. There 
are some who require more of his oversight than 
others. I notice three classes of these : the sick, the 
backsliding, and the young. 

Sect. 4. — An elder is expected, and bound to be 
specially attentive to the sick. In a time of trouble, his 
friendly offices are most prized, and are likely to be 
most useful. He may sometimes have it in his power 
to benefit the afflicted in temporal respects, as well as 
by spiritual consolation. When the sufferers are 
poor, he can bring their case under the attention of 
those who are able to relieve them ; and they are 
hard-hearted, indeed, who might relieve sore cala- 
mity, and refuse to do so on an elder's representation. 
Many will be glad to help the straitened, having such 
unequivocal testimony that they can do it with effect 
— that the persons pleaded for are truly necessitous, 
and will turn the aid administered to good account. 
Where a sick person is injured by the officious throng- 
ing of visitants into the sick chamber, and the rela- 
tives in attendance have not the discretion or courage 
to check the impropriety, an elder may sometimes 
interpose his counsel in a gentle, inoffensive, and yet 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



57 



efficacious manner. But while these matters have 
their importance, and indicate a species of humane 
attentions very becoming in a spiritual functionary, 
there can be no doubt that an elder enters the house 
of mourning chiefly in the character of a religious 
adviser. Happy is the office-bearer who understands 
and performs this duty well ; to excel in this province 
is not the attainment of all rulers, or all teachers, nor 
is it given even to every master in Israel. There is 
a certain tact, a certain delicacy, in aptly handling 
the bruised reed, and fostering the smoking flax, that 
can neither be written in rules nor learned from them. 
Yet some hints derived from experience may not be 
altogether useless. 

The sick should be visited promptly ; for an elder 
will be stung to hear that such an one has died in his 
district, whom he might have seen, and did not, dur- 
ing illness : and he will poorly satisfy his own mind 
by saying — I had no idea the illness was of that 
violent character: had I supposed that any immediate 
danger was apprehended, I would have gone with all 
speed. It is unspeakably better to act in these cases 
with a celerity which leaves no delay to be explained 
or palliated. The members of the congregation ought 
to inform the elder when there is any affliction in 
their families. But, if they do not, he should not 
reckon such information, when he learns the fact 
otherwise, an indispensable pre-requisite to his visit. 
It is an excellent rule, never to take offence at real or 
supposed slights in connection with illnesses or be- 
reavements ; for people are not themselves at such 



58 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



times, and it is cruel to measure their acts by a rigid 
criticism. At all events, the sending or not sending 
for an elder, often lies more with the relatives than 
with the immediate sufferer, and he should not be 
punished for their inadvertency. Invited, then, or 
not, the elder, in all ordinary circumstances, should 
lose no time in visiting the house of mourning. How 
desirable is it that he come early, if he is to come in 
c the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ ! ' 

It is not necessary, and, unless in unusual circum- 
stances, it is not proper that he stay long. The suf- 
fering and enfeebled frame is easily exhausted, and 
therefore the words spoken in such cases should be 
few and well chosen. Exhortations and prayers 
should both be brief, and we should be on our guard 
not to prolong them. It were well that all who visit 
the sick adopted the suggestion, for there is no just 
idea of the mischief done by sitting for half hours at 
a sick bed, and thus taxing unduly the attention of a 
patient. Besides, if an elder's visits are short, he can 
make them the more frequent ; and if he soon leave 
and soon return, he will find this distribution of his 
time assigned for such duty at once the most accept- 
able and the most edifying. 

It is reasonable to suppose that sick persons and 
their friends will be often desirous to elicit an elder's 
opinion of the nature of a malady, or its probable 
danger. He should not, however, affect medical skill 
if it be not possessed by him, and should be slow to 
shake confidence in professional advisers. In so far 
as he remarks on the complaint, he must beware of 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



59 



inspiring false hopes. To gratify a sufferer who 
clings to life, he must not overstate his anticipations 
of recovery, and thus blunt the edge of providential 
warnings. It is a false friendship, it is a real cruelty, 
to soothe solicitude and full into security, by speaking 
of renewed health and pleasure, when thought is 
pointing to aggravated illness and approaching disso- 
lution. But, on the other hand, an elder should re- 
member that there is an opposite extreme. In order 
to be faithful, it is not necessary to give expression 
to every foreboding. If he have no right to promise 
life, he is just as little entitled to predict death. 
There is One who is Lord both of death and life, who 
often removes when removal is least expected, and 
often restores when restoration is despaired of; and, 
knowing these facts, we do well not to infringe his 
prerogative. Among the working-classes especially, 
relatives themselves often give utterance to excessive 
fears with unrestrained freedom. In this manner they 
may induce the catastrophe which they foretell; and 
therefore they should be restrained rather than en- 
couraged in this practice, and calmly reminded that 
we know not, and that it is not for us to know, the 
times and the seasons which the Father hath put in 
his own power. Unless in extreme cases, it is enough 
to remember and to remark, that every disease is 
evidence of our mortality, and premonitory of our 
decease — that any disease may terminate fatally, and 
should therefore be improved as if this were its near 
and inevitable issue — that whether we are to die or 
live, it is the same grace which qualifies for both 



GO 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



alternatives ; and, therefore, on either supposition, we 
should apply instantly and earnestly for its needed 
succours. 

A large proportion of scripture has respect to afflic- 
tion, and an elder can do nothing better, in addressing 
the afflicted, than cite revelation in its own language. 
Though he should simply repeat a number of appro- 
priate passages of the divine word, he will find this 
rehearsal of heavenly counsels far more impressive 
and persuasive than the wisest of human maxims, or 
the most connected and eloquent of uninspired ora- 
tions. 

For all that needs to be further said upon this 
point, it may suffice to add, that next to a true and 
deep piety, a kind-hearted sympathy with sufferers is 
the best guide in accosting them with propriety. A 
heart melted by the sight of woes readily adapts itself 
to their special exigencies. Let us recall the loss of 
dear departed friends, and remember the time when 
we hung in anguish over their pallid cheek and quiv- 
ering lip — let us verify in prospect our own certain 
and impending decease, and bethink ourselves what 
sort of comforters we shall desire in these solemn 
moments — then shall we ' remember those that are in 
bonds as bound with them, and those who suffer ad- 
versity as being ourselves also in the body. 7 Placing 
our own souls in their souls' stead, we shall feel for 
them ; and this fellow-feeling will prompt appropriate 
sentiment, and seek for itself acceptable words, and 
breathe into our very tone and manner a considerate 
and healing tenderness. I have spoken as if piety 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP* 



61 



and sympathy were distinguishable — and in a certain 
measure they are so ; for we find some distinguished 
for commiseration, of whom a decided godliness can- 
not be affirmed. But, in another view, they are in- 
separable ; for piety comprises love to man, and that 
love, in a case of suffering, must assume a sympathetic 
character. Indeed, the hard and stony heart is never 
thoroughly softened, till it is subjected to the influence 
of the blood of sprinkling ; and then it ceases to be 
stone, and becomes flesh. Let us come much to Christ 
on our own behalf, and learn from his condescension 
and compassion, in composing our griefs, how it be- 
comes us to comfort them which are in any trouble* 
We shall never speak words more seasonable in them- 
selves, or more blessed from on high, than when we 
comfort others by those consolations wherewith we 
ourselves are comforted of God. 

I shall conclude these remarks on the visitation of 
the sick, by answering one or two objections. 

(1.) I have been told of elders who objected to 
visit the sick, on the ground that this is a species of 
teaching, and that they are not teaching, but ruling 
elders. The objection is so foolish, that I can hardly 
suppose it put forward in good earnest by any person 
who has been appointed to an important office. Yet 
as several friends have requested me to notice it, I 
give it these replies : — First : When the apostle of 
the Gentiles speaks, 1 Tim. v. 17, of only some elders 
as labouring in word and doctrine, he alludes, as all 
expositors agree, to public instructions, and cannot be 
understood as exempting any class of elders from 



62 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



doing good otherwise, as they have opportunity. Se- 
condly : Scripture is sufficiently express in assigning 
this duty to all elders without distinction : 6 Is any 
sick among you ? let him call for the elders of the 
church; and let them pray over him.'* Paul, in 
addressing the Ephesian elders collectively, exhorts 
them 6 to feed the church of God ;'f that is, to dis- 
charge the functions of shepherds to the church — for 
so the language in the original signifies. And what 
would be thought of a shepherd who allowed the 
sheep committed to his care to languish and die, and 
gave them no attentions ? Thirdly : All christians 
are bound to visit the sick : £ Pure religion, and un- 
dented, before God and the Father, is this, To visit 
the fatherless and widow T s in their affliction, and to 
keep himself unspotted from the world.'J Can it be 
supposed, then, that presbyters alone are exempted 
from this obligation, or that a social duty binding 
on all is not peculiarly incumbent on elders of the 
church, to whom a guardianship of others has been 
specially and solemnly committed? Fourthly: A 
minister cannot give all the attentions needed by the 
sick. In case his charge be of any magnitude, this 
one department of labour would require his whole 
time and more to do it justice. If, then, ruling elders 
are not appointed to aid ministers of the word in this 
important province, we are shut up to the conclusion, 
that no adequate provision has been made for the 
discharge of its duties. Fifthly, and finally: The 
members of a church could have no sympathy with an 
* James v. 14. f Acts xx. 28. J James i. 27. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



68 



elder in fulfilling any of bis functions, who bad no 
sympathy with them in the day of their calamity, — 
who knew that they were sick, and yet visited them 
not — that they were in the prison of affliction, and yet 
came not unto them; and, therefore, if any invested 
with this office are so heartless as to neglect the dis- 
tressed on such a miserable pretext. I know not what 
other official obligation they can discharge with ad- 
vantage. 

(2.) Some elders scruple to visit the sick, on the 
ground that they are not o 1 ualified for the service. 
This objection wears a very different complexion 
from the former. But. after all. it may be better 
only in appearance, as it is no uncommon thing for 
indolence, and even pride, to rly from duty and 
detection in the guise of humility. TVhere timidity 
is unfeigned, I would remark, in alleviating its fears, 
that the simplest manner of performing this duty is 
the best. If you have nothing of your own to say to 
the sick, may you not rehearse some of God's sayings 
to them ? May you not repeat to them some of his 
promises, and kindly appeal to the sorrowing soul, 
whether it do not find them great and precious ? If 
a sense of personal insufficiency be discoverable in 
your manner, that will promote your object, while 
you point attention away from man, and direct it for 
supplies to the fulness which is in Christ. Some 
elders who have little timidity in visiting the abodes 
of poor persons in the time of affliction, can hardly 
command courage enough to visit more affluent fami- 
lies in similar circumstances. Indeed, the richer 



64 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



members of a church are specially apt to be neglected 
in all the visitations of elders. A plain and unpre- 
tending operative feels as if it would be presumptuous 
in him to intrude on the privacy of his superiors, and 
accost them in the language of exhortation; and 
though he may be clothed with office, and they are 
not, he cannot so far sink the mechanic or tradesman 
in the office-bearer, as to derive from this circum- 
stance sufficient fortitude for the undertaking. But 
these impressions are very unfounded. The rich, it 
should be remembered, need spiritual counsel as well 
as the indigent, and instead of proudly repelling a 
religious monitor, they will often be found peculiarly 
grateful for an elder's attentions. At all events, an 
elder should do his duty, and not take impediments 
for granted until he encounter them. 

(3.) Some elders object to visit the sick, because 
the performance of this duty by them appears to 
serve no purpose ; an elder's visit is not accepted for 
a minister's visit, and therefore the minister is not 
aided by co-operation, which leaves the calls on his 
personal attentions neither silenced nor diminished. 
I reply, that the light in which an elder's visits may 
be viewed is no measure of their usefulness. They 
are eminently fitted in themselves to do good; and if 
this end be gained, it matters little whether the elder 
be considered an independent counsellor, or the minis- 
ter's assistant. That an elder's visits are sometimes 
undervalued is an abuse, and has arisen from the 
un scriptural neglect of the office. Let these office- 
bearers be efficient, and the very frequency of their 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



65 



visits will create a dependence on them, and appre- 
ciation of them, and earnest longing to have them 
repeated. Were it found, indeed, that a minister 
discontinued his own attentions because he found 
substitutes in the members of session, a reasonable 
dissatisfaction might be awakened. But the atten- 
tions of elders have quite a different tendency. They 
make him acquainted with cases of distress, of which 
he might not have otherwise known ; and while his 
mind is relieved from the pressure of impracticable 
toil, he is stimulated to do all he can for the sick, in 
the certain knowledge that others are traversing the 
same path, who are necessarily observant of the 
degree of his faithfulness. 

Sect. 5. — The backsliding members of a church 
form another class particularly requiring an eider's 
attentions. It is his duty to speak with them on the 
sinfulness of their conduct, and strive by God's 
blessing to bring them to repentance. This obliga- 
tion is not indeed peculiar to office-bearers. We 
find it commanded in the most absolute and compre- 
hensive form : ' Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy 
neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.' * Of like 
extent is the promise — ' Brethren, if any of you do 
err from the truth, and one convert him ; let him 
know, that he which converteth the sinner from the 
error of his way shall save a soul from death, and 
shall hide a multitude of sins.'f Expostulation, in 
one form or another, is competent to all. Servants 
* Lev. xix. 17. f James v. 19, 20. 



66 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



may fitly rebuke fellow-servants, and the youngest 
children their companions in childhood. Circum- 
stances may occur, in which inferiors do well to ad- 
monish superiors, and the child the parent. The ser- 
vant of Naanian wisely said to him—' If the pro- 
phet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou 
not have done it I how much rather then, when he 
saith to thee, Wash, and be clean ? ' * And though 
our Lord himself was in early life a signal example 
of filial obedience, residing at Nazareth with Joseph 
and his mother, and being 6 subject unto them/f we 
find him on one occasion exchanging that subjection 
for censure, and saying, 6 How is it that ye sought 
me ! wist ye not that I must be about my Father's 
business?' | The duty, then, is general, to 'have no 
fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but 
rather to reprove them.'§ At the same time, the 
duty of reproving is not devolved equally on all. 

Parents are bound, in a very special manner, to in- 
terdict and condemn all misconduct in their offspring. 
Nor is it a passing expression of disapproval that will 
discharge this responsibility. Eli, hearing all that 
his sons did unto Israel, said unto them, 'Why do ye 
such things? for I hear of your evil doings by all this 
people. Nay, my sons ; for it is no good report that 
I hear : ye make the Lord's people to transgress. If 
one man sin against another, the judge shall judge 
him : but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall 
entreat for him ?' || This seems to be serious expos- 

* 2 Kings v. 13. f Luke ii. 51. t Luke ii. 49. 
§ Ephes. v. 11. || 1 Sam. ii. 23, etc. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



67 



tulation, and yet, because it was tardy, occasional, 
and irresolute, we find Jehovah afterwards saying of 
Eli — i I will perform against him all things which I 
have spoken concerning his house ; when I begin, I 
will also make an end. For I have told him that I 
will judge his house for ever, for the iniquity which 
he knoweth ; because his sons made themselves vile, 
and he restrained them not.'* Is there not many a 
house — the house of many a real saint — desolate as 
that of Eli, from the same cause — the relaxation of 
parental discipline ? 

The ministers of religion are also under peculiar 
obligations to tell offenders their faults : c Preach the 
word/ says Paul to Timothy ; ' be instant in season, 
and out of season ; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all 
long-suffering and doctrine.' f Of like speciality is 
the obligation resting on the elders of the church, to 
see to the well-doing of its members. They are 
rulers, and what sort of rule would it be that took 
no cognizance of transgression ? It is of incalculable 
.moment to sustain the standard of christian morality 
in our churches; and while all should endeavour, 
after their own manner and in their own measure, to 
contribute to this result, yet so much depends on the 
eldership, that if their part be neglected, the purity 
of the society is infallibly and fearfully compromised. 

Any sin, when it becomes known, is a proper sub- 
ject of remonstrance by an elder. There are some 
sins, however^ which, from their prevalence or danger, 
will call for his more frequent and earnest dissuasions. 
* 1 Sam. iii. 12, etc, f 2 Tim. iv. 2. 



68 THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 

Absence from church is among these. It is one of the 
surest signs of degeneracy when persons desert the 
public ordinances of religion, not remembering the 
Sabbath, and not reverencing the sanctuary. Such 
contempt of divine institutions is very sinful in itself, 
is always allied with other elements of backsliding, 
and removes the transgressor from the appointed 
means of correction and improvement. Some, who 
do not forsake the church wholly, rest quite contented 
in a half-day attendance, or every-other-day attend- 
ance, when they might be present with perfect regu- 
larity. Such conduct, if it be not checked, is apt to 
become general, and always to proceed from bad to 
worse, till church-attendance, in this country, as in 
continental countries, would almost fall into desuetude. 
Elders, then, should watch over such cases, and 
not shrink from telling Sabbath-breakers their guilt 
and danger. — Another sin, of dreadfully menacing 
aspect in the present day, is intoxication* While 
other vices slay their thousands, this slays its tens of 
thousands. It is this sin which empties our homes 
and churches, and fills our bridewells and cemeteries. 
Inebriating liquors have been termed strong drink ; 
and strong indeed they are, when reason falls before 
them, and the claims of friendship, and the love of a 
good name, and the comforts of time, and the 
interests of eternity, are of no avail to withstand 
their ravages; when multitudes of our youth, far 
outnumbering the armies which in modern wars 
defended our country and discomfited its foes, and 
won its glory, are taken captive almost without a 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



69 



struggle, and bound in the chains of a perpetual 
slavery by this detestable indulgence. The enormity 
of the evil has given rise to various plans for arresting- 
its progress. To decide on the intrinsic or compara- 
tive merits of these philanthropic schemes is foreign 
to my present object. This much, however, is ob- 
vious, that he who does nothing to promote sobriety 
must be wrong. None can be innocently idle in the 
view and amid the desolations of such a deadly plague 
as intemperance. All may do much individually to 
bring this immorality into abhorrence, and the ad- 
monitory vigilance of elders may be of incalculable 
value in warding it off from the precincts of the 
sanctuary. 

Such are some of the offences which warrant and 
demand the faithful dealing of an elder with the 
offender. Much depends, however, on the mode, as 
well as the matter, of expostulation. One rule, which 
our Lord has laid down as to the manner of proceed- 
ing in such cases, is never to be forgotten or violated. 
He has expressly enjoined that, where the offence is 
personal, and not known to the public, a private settle- 
ment of it should be attempted ; and if due acknow- 
ledgment or reparation be made by the party in the 
wrong to the party injured, no farther steps should be 
taken.* Besides observing this rule himself, an elder 
may have frequent occasion to inculcate the observ- 
ance of it on others. The rule, however, applies only 
to private offences ; and when any sin, even though 



* Matt xviiL 15. 
E 



70 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



it may have been ever so secret in the first instance, 
becomes noised abroad, and so brings a scandal on 
the christian cause and church, then a personal settle- 
ment of it is no longer admissible. The vindication 
of the church must be as wide as its reproach. Even 
then, however, although an elder is not bound to 
communicate with the person in fault before submit- 
ting the case to the session, it can generally do no 
harm, and may often do much good, to speak with the 
individual apart, and inform him of the measures 
which the nature and publicity of his transgression 
render indispensable. Courtesies of this kind evince 
kind intention, and remove the pretexts which shelter 
impenitence. When a desire is thus manifested to 
save feeling in the application of discipline, it always 
commands respect, if not acquiescence, and seldom 
disturbs good understanding. Indeed, this is to 
state the case very feebly. Let an elder wear, in 
his own blameless character, an impenetrable panoply; 
let him not only be a just man, but a man of bene- 
volent worth ; let him enter on the task of censure 
with manifest pain to himself, and obviously from a 
sense of duty and a wish to impart benefit, and he 
wields in these attributes an impressive, an appalling 
power. The audacity which laughs to scorn the 
mace and the sceptre of earthly greatness, may quail 
before his scriptural and spiritual authority. I do 
not say that it will, in every case, subdue trans- 
gressors into contrition — that end it can never reach 
without God's blessing ; but this I say, that the man 
who despises such admonition, has few restraints left 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



71 



between him and destruction. I have known those 
who have resisted and reviled a faithful and affec- 
tionate office-bearer in the self-denying fulfilment of 
his functions; but I have known none of them whose 
scorn of God's servant has not recoiled upon them- 
selves. We should pray in hope for all ; but I should 
despair of such scorners, if I were to despair of any. 

Seeing, then, that official censures are weapons so 
penetrating, an elder will do well to handle them with 
discretion, and to beware in the handling of them of 
allowing ought that is earthly to impair their celestial 
purity and strength. Many counsels might be given, 
but this only I shall remark — that remonstrance, to 
be effective, must be expeditious. A stone, in down- 
ward motion, is best arrested at the beginning of its 
course. When it has tumbled from steep to steep, 
and has acquired at every stage of its descent aug- 
mented violence, a resistance, which would have 
stopped it entirely at the commencement of its fall, 
may fail at the last to qualify its speed. So is it with 
downward conduct. A word may reclaim after the 
first act, where volumes of entreaty impose no 
restraint on the confirmed habit. An elder, then, 
should not procrastinate in checking misconduct. 
One of the best elders I ever knew was very earnest 
in acting upon this principle, and he related to me an 
incident which had mainly impressed its importance 
on his mind. A highly respectable member of the 
congregation in which he was an office-bearer became 
suspected of exceeding in the use of spirits. At first 
the suspicion was treated as a calumny, and the 



72 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



friends of the accused spoke of it with indignation. 
Nothing, therefore, was done in the matter — not so 
much as to institute any inquiry to ascertain the truth 
or untruth of the rumours. The suspected individual 
maintained, on the whole, his prior standing, and no 
one could be bold enough to confront him on the 
delicate subject. Suspicion went to rest, but from 
time to time revived, and always in alliance with new 
corroboratory indications. Still the respectable man 
could not be charged, however gently, with the sup- 
position of inebriety. At length his excesses became 
more decided and apparent: he was seen drunk one 
day in the streets: the town rung with the sad news, 
and no more delicacy remained in subjecting him to 
discipline. The session took up the case, and the 
elder I have adverted to was appointed, along with 

another, to wait on Mr , to converse with him 

on the fama affecting his reputation, and summon 
him to their next meeting. He received them with a 
mournful expression on his countenance. When they 
had informed him of the occasion and design of their 
call, he replied to this effect — 'Your visit is kind, but 
late. Had you come sooner, while I had a struggle 
with myself, you might have aided my better resolu- 
tions. But now all is over. My character is lost ; 
my self-command is gone, and I am a ruined man — 
for ever and ever.' Shortly after he expired in a fit of 
drinking. When the elder told me these circumstances, 
he was much affected by the recollection of them, and 
said he would brave any accusation of censoriousness 
rather than encounter another such interview. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



73 



Sect. 6. — It is one of the greatest improvements 
of modern times, that so much care is bestowed on 
early tuition. But though this field of labour receives 
more attention than formerly, it is not yet adequately 
cultivated. The offspring of professing christians are 
received into the visible church by baptism, and the 
church is solemnly bound to use diligence that all the 
young thus admitted into its fellowship be suitably in- 
structed. If no means be employed to secure this end, 
their admission is a mere ceremony — rather, a positive 
mockery ; and the opponents of infant baptism find 
too much pretext in the conduct of its friends for 
holding it in derision. All the members of the church 
should derive benefit from their relation to it cor- 
responding with their state and wants; and if the 
church neglect the young who are its acknowledged 
charge, assuredly the rulers of the church shall not 
be found guiltless. 

There should be classes of children. These are 
commonly taught on the Sabbath evening, because 
the season corresponds with the exercises, and is 
otherwise the most convenient for pupils and teachers. 
Some have a prejudice against Sabbath schools. It 
is evident, however, that to children who would be 
otherwise neglected, they are invaluable, and that they 
ought to be maintained, were it for their sakes alone. 
To the offspring of religious parents they are less 
necessary; and did the question lie between school 
and domestic instruction, a decided preference would 
be due to parental superintendence. But I apprehend 
that these means of improvement are best conjoined. 



74 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



and that when they are both well conducted, they 
will be found mutually serviceable. The parent will 
find it an advantage, in directing youthful attention to 
prescribed lessons, that a more public rehearsal of 
them is in prospect ; and the Sabbath school teacher, 
when he experiences unusual ease and comfort in dis- 
charging his duties, can generally trace these facilities 
to well-conditioned homes. 

As to the manner of conducting these junior classes, 
a considerable portion of the exercises must necessarily 
consist in the recital of passages committed to memory. 
It is of importance that the tasks be select, that they 
be of practicable amount, and that the performance 
of them be firmly, though not sternly exacted. Each 
scholar need not repeat the whole lesson. This pro- 
cess becomes tedious and monotonous, and tempts 
those who have concluded to use the freedoms of a 
pastime. It is better to call now on one, and now on 
another, to give the succeeding verse, taking care that 
none be ultimately omitted ; and all are thus held in 
vigilant expectation. 

Even the very young should be taught, as they are 
able to bear it, the meaning of scriptural statements. 
Where this is done by questioning, great care should 
be taken not to make the questions lengthened and 
prosing. Let it never be forgotten that the learners 
are comparative babes, and that instruction, to be suit- 
able for them, must partake of their own quickness 
and vivacity. There is reason to fear that infant 
training often errs on the side of a dull solemnity. 
Those who are so commendably occupied, will there- 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



75 



fore bear jriith the reiterated exhortation to study 
cheerfulness, and even sprightliness, in their mode of 
teaching. The catechising of children, to be at all 
agreeable to them, and consequently effective with 
them, must be prompt, and brief, and varied, as their 
own mercurial and versatile temperament — shifting 
and sparkling, if I may so express myself, like the 
playful sunbeams on a rippling stream. Yet the 
questions should not be frivolous ; nor should they lie 
so much on the surface as to engage no thought, im- 
part no information, and merely elicit another verbal 
repetition of sentences, or members of sentences, al- 
ready littered. Children must feel that their faculties 
are exercised, and their knowledge enlarged, or they 
soon weary of insipid truisms. From all these obser- 
vations, the inference is easily deducible, that the first 
to be drilled by the teacher is the teacher himself, 
and that unless he has premeditated his interroga- 
tories, he is not likely to make them either fascinating 
or useful. 

As children may pretend to be at school when they 
are not so, and an institution excellent in itself may 
thus be perverted to the worst possible evils, parents 
should be admonished to watch over their attendance ; 
and teachers will promote immeasurably the value and 
efficiency of their labours, by keeping lists of their 
scholars, marking the absentees, and afterwards calling 
to learn the cause of their absence. 

These observations have respect to children ; but 
instruction should be afforded to the more advanced 
of the rising generation, and there should be classes of 



76 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



young men and women. The period of life succeeding 
childhood is in every view most important. It is the 
golden age for learning. The season of first feebleness 
has passed away ; the season of second and sadder 
infancy has not yet come ; and the mind, all buoyant, 
inquisitive, impressible, and sprightly, has every ad- 
vantage in profiting by education. With superior 
facilities for improvement, there is then also a peculiar 
liability to intellectual and moral perversion. While 
the understanding gains strength, so does emotion — 
so do the passions ; and if youthful lusts, which war 
against the soul, are permitted to conquer self-restraint, 
and subdue into crime, alas for juvenile promise, and 
the fond hopes it had inspired ! At such an epoch 
there is more need than ever for wise direction ; but 
it becomes diminished when it most of all requires to 
be augmented. Day schools are then left, parents 
are often parted from, other protective influences be- 
come, in like manner, inoperative ; and is not this 
the necessitous hour for the church interposing — for 
the members of the church, and, above all, the rulers 
of the church, supplying a lack of other guardianship 
by compensating ministrations ? 

As these classes consist, professedly, of young men 
and young women, it is desirable to fix a minimum 
age, that their distinctive character may be preserved. 
The more advanced dislike to be associated with mere 
children ; and, when attainments do not correspond 
with age, the older are especially apt to be shamed by 
the superior answers of the younger, into silence and 
desertion. The minimum age should, for these rea- 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



77 



sons, be somewhat high — fourteen years, or there- 
about. But, while none are admitted under this age, 
unless in special cases, it is of great consequence to 
obtain the attendance of numbers much older; for the 
term of education cannot be too far extended, or the 
false shame of being made wiser too much discouraged. 
The stated meetings benefit more from being regular 
than frequent. Many young people, in service of 
one or another species, can scarcely obtain leave of 
absence so often as one night a week ; and, if they 
cannot attend always, the temptation is strong not to 
attend at all. It may be best, in such circumstances, 
that the young men and women be assembled on 
alternate weeks. But, whatever may be the interval 
selected, the time fixed must not be on slight grounds 
departed from ; for, if the class be this week forgotten, 
and next week set aside, its ruin is inevitable. 

The exercises in the senior, as in the junior classes, 
must consist partly of scriptural recitations. This is 
the more necessary, that a careful committal of pas- 
sages to memory is falsely supposed by many to be an 
occupation only for children ; while the advantage of 
it is to all incalculable. If recollections of scripture 
be vague and erring, how can they, in a time of need, — 
perhaps of temptation, perhaps of death, or to mention 
duty always incumbent, how can they, in the plead- 
ings of prayer, — be adduced with certainty, readiness, 
and power? A few verses, then, should be assigned 
to be repeated memoriter ; but they should be few ; 
for the toil-worn of our youth cannot burden their 
memories with onerous tasks, and by the attempt to 



78 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



impose them, such classes, as facts testify, would be 
infallibly wrecked, 

The exercises in these classes, to correspond with 
the status of their members, must be, to a large 
extent, of an explanatory nature. It is not meant 
that the classes should be lectured at great length on 
the nature of doctrines or duties, for protracted ad- 
dresses are unsuitable to such meetings, and have not 
unfrequently the effect of annihilating them. The 
system of question and answer, already remarked 
upon in relation to junior classes, is here also the best 
medium of communicating knowledge ; of course, mo- 
dified somewhat in accommodation to the altered cir- 
cumstances. Two or three questions of the Shorter 
Catechism, with associated proofs ; and two or three 
verses of some gospel or epistle, may, after being re- 
peated from memory, form the appropriate subject of 
query and response. The more varied the illustra- 
tions are which the teacher elicits or suggests, they 
will be found the more pleasing and inspiriting. The 
facts, the principles, the precepts of scripture should 
all be in requisition ; and, indeed, assistance may be 
derived, with happy effect, from stores of useful know- 
ledge not expressly religious — from the observations 
of travellers, the annals of history, and the discoveries 
of science. All this requires very little erudition. 
Enough may be gathered, with little trouble, from 
popular treatises, and a floating literature, easily and 
universally accessible. Still, a measure of study is 
necessary; and, if any one think to superintend such 
classes efficiently without investigation and fore- 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



79 



thought he mistakes his undertaking. He must re- 
gulate his reading with a view to their benefit, and, 
so often as other engagements will permit him, should 
prepare particularly for each particular meeting with 
them. The ever-recurring secret of success is thus 
seen to be labour. If any desire the office of a 
bishop, he desires a good work ; and ruling elders are 
bishops in the nomenclature of scripture. Miraculous 
gifts have been withdrawn ; and, though that undefin- 
able quality genius were as prevalent as it is rare, it 
would not supply the place of diligence. Indeed, 
inspiration itself did not release its subjects from 
exertion, but rather stimulated them to surpassing 
effort ; for the apostle of the Gentiles, as he excelled 
others in preternatural endowments, also 'laboured 
more abundantly than they all.'* 

Classes of the kind now under consideration are 
commonly superintended by the minister. Where 
this is the case, they are best held on a week-day 
evening ; for the minister is then in better mood for 
conducting them vigorously, than after being fatigued 
by his pulpit services ; and whoever may be the 
teacher, it is well to have the week's worldliness re- 
lieved by intermediate devotions, and the maxim 
practically inculcated, that religion is not the business 
of the Sabbath exclusively, but generally of life. Let 
not impossibility be hastily pleaded. There are flour- 
ishing week-day classes of this nature both in country 
districts and in towns, and if others in similar localities 
be declining or extinct, the cause may be circumstan- 

* 1 Cor. xv. 10. 



80 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



tial and not essential. Let the mode be doubted of, 
and once and again altered in order to be amended, 
before suspecting or changing the day, at the expense 
of resigning six days to unbroken secularity, and 
crowding all such labours into the clay of rest. 

In some cases, the minister, from age and infirmity, 
or other causes, cannot hold these classes, and then 
the charge of them devolves on the elders. They 
may be often conducted advantageously by both ; but 
abandoned by both they should never be. In the 
history of my own congregation, these classes, as 
formerly conducted by elders, have proved a signal 
blessing. One who experienced their benefit, thus 
speaks of them in our last year's congregational re- 
port: — 'Several of the elders had classes in their 
respective proportions — a practice, the advantages of 
which cannot easily be estimated. During the last 
four years of Dr Dick's life, a class was conducted in 
the session-house by Messrs James Sommerville and 
David Anderson. Of those who attended this class 
during the last two years of its existence, several 
females have become instructors of the ignorant, and 
all the male scholars, without exception, have been 
employed as Sabbath school teachers.' 

Let all our congregations, then, have their senior 
as well as junior classes. In regulating youth, we 
are regulating manhood and womanhood ; for, in all 
ordinary cases, the one period of life fixes the character 
of the other. A special difficulty is sometimes com- 
plained of, in securing the attendance of young men. 
But the end is too important to be hastily relinquished. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



81 



Much, should be done to gain their presence and 
sustain their interest. TVe thus influence their views 
and habits at the only time when modelling agency 
can be applied with any degree of facility, or any 
likelihood of success. Soon, very soon, the affairs of 
the world will be entrusted to them ; soon, very soon, 
the interests of Christ's church itself will pass subor- 
dinately into their hands ; and to initiate and ground 
them in a well-informed, and sober-minded, and 
vitally- energetic piety, is doing the noblest service 
that can be done to secure and expedite the glory of 
the latter days. 

There is another species of attentions to the young, 
which it is of great consequence they should receive. 
It is well known that every year brings a large influx 
of youth into our commercial cities. Some of these 
young persons conduct themselves with propriety, and 
become the ornament and strength of churches to 
which they attach themselves. But the dangers to 
which the inexperienced are exposed in our large 
towns are very great ; and it is melancholy to think 
how many of them are seduced into ' the paths of the 
destroyer.' * We have our bills of mortality, and they 
are gloomy records ; but still more affecting would be 
the recorded wrecks of juvenile promise and parental 
anticipation. 

In so far as these youthful entrants into cities can 
be induced to attend classes for religious instruction, 
a great object is accomplished. But not a few of 
them are debarred, by circumstances, from making 

* Ps. xvii. i. 



82 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



use of such means of improvement. Are they to be 
neglected, then, or merely receive a stated visit with 
other members and adherents of the congregation? 
Their case requires more consideration and sympathy. 
Yery possibly their new pastor has received a letter 
of introduction with them — a letter from their parents 
breathing all the solicitude of parental affection ; or, 
from their former pastor, testifying that hitherto they 
have deported themselves commendably, and soliciting 
a watchful eye on their future behaviour, A minister 
has little of the spirit of his office who does not feel 
interested in the charge so committed to him : but he 
cannot do all that he would ; and, when he has done 
his utmost in these instances, he is painfully impressed 
with the insufficiency of his services. The elders can 
come to his help. Each member of session can give 
attention to some of these youths; and, by showing 
them a little domestic kindness, may augment the 
effect of official counsels. Elders may also introduce 
them to church members of respectable standing and 
beneficent disposition; and thus the pensive and 
unprotected stranger may speedily find himself at 
home, and fenced about by all the influences of 
christian friendship from the perilous snares on which 
he was stumbling. 

Sect. 7. — There are some engagements which have 
not regard exclusively to any class of persons, but 
which, as being conducted by elders individually, 
naturally fall under this division of my subject. Of 
these I shall notice only — district prayer meetings. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



83 



Many passages of scripture point to the duty 
and advantage of such assemblings for supplication : 
1 Again I say unto you/ declares our Lord emphati- 
cally, 'that if two of you shall agree on earth as 
touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done 
for them of my Father which is in heaven.'* We 
find some of the most remarkable manifestations of 
God's presence and goodness recorded in scripture as 
being made to companies of disciples who were thus 
occupied: 6 And when the day of Pentecost was fully 
come, they were all with one accord in one place. 
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of 
a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house 
where they were sitting.' j* Is it asked in what they 
all accorded? The explanation is furnished in the 
preceding context: 'These all continued with one 
accord in prayer and supplication .'J Peter and John, 
on their release from imprisonment, £ went to their 
own company, and reported all that the chief priests 
and elders had said unto them. And when they 
heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one 
accord. . ♦ And when they had prayed, the place 
was shaken where they were assembled together ; and 
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they 
spake the word of God with boldness. And the 
multitude of them that believed were of one heart and 
one soul.'§ When 6 Herod stretched forth his hand 
to vex certain of the church,' Peter, by his orders 
was kept in prison ; but 6 prayer was made without 

* Matt, xviii. 19. t Acts ii. 1,2. J Acts i. 14. 
§ Acts iv. 23. 



84 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



ceasing of the church unto God for him.' When 
Herod would have brought him forth for execution, 
the same night he was delivered by angelic ministra- 
tion : ' And when he had considered the thing, he 
came to the house of Mary the mother of John, 
whose surname was Mark : where many were 
gathered together praying.'* These were extraordi- 
nary cases : and yet like facts have occurred in recent 
times. I shall adduce an example, as told, to the 
best of my recollection, by Mr Reed, one of the 
missionaries connected with the London Missionary 
Society in Africa:— He was labouring in Caffraria, 
while the colony belonged to Holland. The Dutch 
government became jealous of the British mission- 
aries, and sent for them to come to Cape Town< 
without giving them any intimation of the design of 
the summons. On reaching the seat of rule, they 
were told that their labours must be discontinued, and 
that they must not revisit their flocks, even to bid 
them farewell. The missionaries held a conference — 
so they intended it to be ; but when they were met, 
one of them said, 6 What can we confer about ? to de- 
liberate is useless, where we have no power to decide : 
let us rather pray.' The suggestion was adopted, 
and the missionaries successively addressed a throne 
of grace, continuing c instant in prayer.' They were 
yet devoting themselves to this exercise when a 
rumour reached them that a squadron was visible at 
sea. It was a British fleet, having for its destination 
the capture of the colony, and it was speedily in con- 
* Acts xii, 12. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



85 



flict with the Dutch navy. The flames and smoke 
of battle could be seen from the land, and the cannon's 
thunders were distinctly audible. In a few minutes 
the fight w T as over, and the colony belonged to Great 
Britain. On a representation to the new authorities, 
the missionaries were empowered to return to their 
mission stations. When Mr Reed went back to the 
people of his charge, they received him with rival 
surprise and joy. Having learned that they were to 
be deprived of their instructor, they had assembled 
to consider what should be done ; and the question 
w r as raised among the taught, as it had been among 
the teachers, What can we do but pray ? They en- 
gaged and persevered in prayer; and Mr Reed's 
restoration to them, in God's own way and God's 
own time, was the subject of supplication when he 
presented himself in their assembly ! 

In many of the darkest periods of the church's 
history, when the pulpit has emitted only such instruc- 
tion as causeth to err, devotion has been very prin- 
cipally cherished and preserved in prayer meetings ; 
and it is certain that when a season of revival and 
reformation comes, these excellent institutions are the 
invariable cause or effect of such 6 newness of life.' — 
An able writer says : — c Where the spirit of prayer is 
dull, the " first love has been left." It must be so, 
both with the individual and with the church. There 
is then declension. And the return of the spirit of 
prayer is revival. The criterion is sure. It is an 
unfailing spiritual thermometer. Where prayer is 
cold, the heart is cold; and as the heart warms, 



86 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



prayer warms Where there is life in the 

personal, there will be corresponding life in the do- 
mestic exercises. And in proportion as there is life 
in both, there will be life too in the prayers of the 
fellowship meeting and of the church. A praying spirit 
in the closet and in the family will take delight in 
the private coteries of christian conference and devo- 
tion ; and it will come in its full force to the sanctu- 
ary. — Are prayer meetings, then, on the increase 
among you ? Why should there be a neighbourhood 
in which brethren reside, without one ? I know not 
a more pleasing symptom of a reviving and thriving 
church, than the multiplication of these, and their 
spirited attendance.'* 

To augment the interest of such meetings, some 
associate with prayer the reading of missionary intel- 
ligence, others the exposition of a part of scripture, 
and others the discussion of some important article of 
faith. Any of these adjuncts may be so regulated as 
to do great good, and where it is so, I would be sorry 
to disturb the arrangement. But they may be per- 
verted into an occasion of personal display and party 
strife, and very great evil may result from such abuses. 
So far as my knowledge extends, prayer meetings are 
generally most successful when their nature is most 
in accordance with their name — when the exercises 
are throughout spiritual and devotional— when the 
assembled worshippers find ample materials of occu- 
pation and delight in reading God's word, celebrating 
his praise, and supplicating his throne. While reli- 

* ' Revival of Religion/ by R. Wardlaw, D.D., pp. 38, 39. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



87 



gious associations are so conducted, they are among 
the best indices of congregational prosperity, and 
surest fountains of future and overflowing good. It 
is desirable, however, that none of the services be 
unseasonably prolonged; for those who wish to attend 
may have little time at their command, and in any 
circumstances piety is not likely to be advanced where 
strength and patience are exhausted. These remarks 
have respect only to the mode of conducting prayer 
meetings, and do not invalidate the importance of 
holding them. They are of high and holy conse- 
quence. Scripture, and history, and present facts, 
unite in attesting their value. Let every elder form 
them who can ; and if the attendance be small, and 
he labour in vain to enlarge it, let him not be dis- 
couraged, while the numbers fulfil the stipulation of 
the promise : 4 Where two or three are gathered 
together in my name, there am I in the midst of 
them/ * 



CHAPTER III. 

DUTIES OF ELDERS TIE WED COLLECTIVELT — FREQUENCY OF 
MEETING — MINUTES — CONGREGATIONAL LIST — APPOR- 
TIONING OF THE CONGREGATION — ADMISSION OF MEM- 
BERS — DISCIPLINE MEASURES AFFECTING PUBLIC 

WORSHIP, ETC. — GENERAL ENCOURAGEMENT TO BENEFI- 
CENT INSTITUTIONS — CONCLUSION. 

I have now to consider the duties of elders viewed 
collectively, or in session assembled. Some remarks 
* Matt, xviil 20. • 



83 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



on this department of the subject have been offered 
in treating of the former ; and it may be necessary 
sometimes to revert to the former in treating of this, 
as it is scarcely possible to keep them wholly distinct. 
Still, advantage results from considering them, on the 
whole, separately. 

Sect. 1. — A session should meet with due frequency. 
If elders be called together only at distant intervals, 
and perhaps even then at no stated time, but casually 
and irregularly, the superintendence of the congrega- 
tion must be in a ruinous state. The reason cannot 
be, that there is no duty for the session to perform : 
the only explanation is, that the performance of it is 
neglected. In ordinary circumstances, a session should 
not meet seldomer than once a month for its regular 
business ; and it is greatly to be wished that another 
monthly meeting should be held, punctually, for de- 
votional exercises. It would be to no purpose that 
the session was convoked, if its members did not 
attend ; and the regular attendance of all the members 
is quite indispensable to the spirited and successful 
discharge of sessional business. No elder can say, 
beforehand, how much is to depend in the guidance 
of any cause on the information which he may have 
to furnish, or how much the interests of his own par- 
ticular district may be involved in the discussions 
which shall arise ; and, therefore, an elder, by unne- 
cessarily absenting himself, not only deserts his own 
duty, but perils the usefulness of his brethren, who 
are more faithful than himself. In all respects the 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



89 



punctual attendance of elders on the meetings of ses- 
sion is so important, and a contrary practice so per- 
nicious and disheartening, that if an elder cannot or 
will not appear in his place, to promote with other 
office-bearers the interests of the church, he incurs a 
dreadful responsibility in retaining functions which he 
is failing to fulfil. It is not denied that an elder may 
be necessarily absent at times from the meetings of 
session, but let him beware of creating the necessity, 
and of allowing occasional instances of non-attendance 
to degenerate into a culpable and destructive habit. 

Sect. 2. — The acts of session ought to he regularly 
minuted. It is of much consequence that the minutes 
be carefully kept — that they be expressed with toler- 
able accuracy, and written in a fair legible hand. If 
possible, they should be completed, read, and approved 
of, at the meeting of which they record the transac- 
tions, as this removes all danger of interpolation, and 
all suspicion of misstatement. Should the suggestion 
be found impracticable, pretty full notes, at least, 
should be taken at the time, and the first business, 
after the session is constituted, should always be to 
hear and pass the minutes of the meeting preceding. 

Sect. 3. — Mention has been already made of dis- 
trict roll-books. Out of these a congregational roll 
should be formed by the session, and every care 
should be exercised to keep it in an accurate condi- 
tion. Admissions and disjunctions of members 
should be entered into the record immediately on their 



90 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



occurrence, that omissions may not happen through 
procrastination and forgetfulness. A roll of the con- 
gregation should be kept by the minister, as well as 
by the session, and both can be derived and corrected 
from the same data. As each elder is not only 
responsible for his own district, but has a general 
accountability for the state of the congregation, it 
belongs to all of them to make sure that every one of 
their number is active and faithful in his particular 
province. If any portion of the flock be really 
slighted, while nominally inspected, the evil should 
be ascertained, and a remedy applied. The elder who 
is remiss may plead want of time, or bad health, or 
the magnitude of his district ; and in such a case 
some new arrangement can be made to relieve him. 
But on no account should a section of the congrega- 
tion be left to inquire month by month, and one-half 
year after another, who its elder is, without seeing 
any of his own doings to indicate the answer. 

It is a first duty of the session, then, to provide 
that the congregation be well apportioned among its 
members, and that the arrangements for each district 
be in good working order. 

Sect. 4. — It belongs to the session to admit appli- 
cants into the fellowship of the church. In the discharge 
of this duty, they do well to cherish a deep sense of 
its importance. What is all other congregational 
prosperity worth, if our congregations be not com- 
posed of genuine believers — if the principle of 
selection be not at least acknowledged, and with some 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



91 



fidelity acted on, in our ecclesiastical administration ! 
TTe may have numerous, intelligent, affluent, and in- 
fluential audiences ; but if no discrimination have been 
made between the chaff and the wheat — the living 
and the dead — these audiences, however respectable, 
are not entitled to be considered christian churches 
at all. It is only when reasonable evidence of saint- 
ship is insisted on, that a stimulus is given to acquire 
the indispensable qualifications, — it is then only that 
persons of the same views and spirit, being separated 
from others, and brought into fellowship, favourably 
affect each other by reciprocal sympathy, — it is only 
then the society becomes a spiritual Israel, and can 
expect to have fulfilled in its behalf the glorious things 
which are spoken of Zion. It is no valid objection, 
that we deal harshly with people in denying them 
church privileges. The cruelty consists in fostering 
their delusion, and seconding their self-destruction ; 
and the truest of all friendship is tendered them in 
restraining their presumption, exhibiting to them their 
danger, and pointing out to them the only path by 
which saving privilege can be reached, and its exter- 
nal manifestations consistently observed. Equally 
futile is the objection that we are imperfect judges of 
character, and should not usurp functions which we 
are incompetent to wield. Our comparative ignorance 
and liability to err furnish adequate grounds for cau- 
tion, and gentleness, and charitable interpretation, but 
not for levelling the land-marks which the hand of 
God has erected, and which his word clearly defines. 
Is no distinction to be made? If infidels or prom'- 



92 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



gates choose to make a sport of the Lord's Supper, 
and call for the cup of blessing, as Belshazzar did for 
the sacred vessels of the temple, are we to accede to 
their demand ? Or, suppose only that persons are, 
to our certain knowledge, absolutely ignorant of the 
first principles of Christianity, are we to encourage 
them in transforming a significant service into a 
meaningless ceremony, when it is morally impossible 
they can profit by the engagement ? It will be said, 
these are extreme cases. But, however extreme, 
they establish a principle — the principle of discrimina- 
tion ; and when once that principle has been ad- 
mitted, where shall we stay its application ? — where, 
with any approach to consistency, or semblance of 
respect for scripture, or any practical effect, if not in 
requiring such elements of character and behaviour as 
constitute a credible profession of faith in Christ? 

What then is to be done for the protection of the 
church's purity in the admission of members ? Care 
must be taken to ascertain that the persons applying 
have a competent knowledge of divine truth — that 
they are acquainted with those cardinal principles 
which are essential to the christian scheme, and of 
which the faith is therefore indispensable to salvation ; 
above all, they must have clear apprehension of the 
facts, that by nature and practice we are condemned 
and depraved, and to be delivered from this com- 
plicated ruin, must be justified in the name of the 
Lord Jesus, and sanctified by the Spirit of our God. 
What renders justification necessary? — What is the 
nature of the privilege so expressed % — In what sense 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



93 



are we justified through Christ ? — In what sense are we 
justified by faith ? — Where, or in what words, is justifi- 
cation spoken of in scripture ? — What is to be under- 
stood by being sanctified ? — Who is it that sanctifies ? — 
Wherein does sanctification differ from justification? — 
What proofs can be adduced from scripture in behalf 
of these views ? If such questions, kindly put, and in 
a variety of lights, and with auxiliary suggestions, 
cannot be answered, the gospel is not understood. 
How, then, can it be believed ? And if such persons 
were admitted into the church, to what would their 
admission amount, or what communion could there 
be between enlightened godliness and practical 
heathenism ? To ascertain the knowledge of appli- 
cants for church privileges is, in the opinion of many, 
the prerogative of the minister; but there is no 
reason why it should devolve on him exclusively. 
There are many reasons why the duty and responsi- 
bility should be shared by other members of session. 
W 7 here a teaching and a ruling elder differ in their 
estimate of a person's knowledge, there is ground 
to pause, and to institute farther examination; where 
the examiners agree, such agreement confirms the 
judgment of each, and establishes the confidence of 
the whole session in the representations given to them. 

Where persons are kept back on account of defi- 
cient knowledge, it is a pity that the delay should 
wear the aspect of harsh rejection, or be in any way 
so conducted as unnecessarily to wound feeling and 
discourage renewed application. Satisfaction should 
be expressed that they are giving their minds to the 



94 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



subject — that they have profited so far by the conver- 
sations held with them — and that good hope may be 
entertained of their growing proficiency. If it w^ere 
a common practice to guide the less informed appli- 
cants through a course of catechetical exercises before 
receiving them into communion, and if persons so 
deferred were made aware that theirs was no isolated 
case* but simply an exemplification of common usage, 
all appearance of special and personal affront would 
be done away ; and the excellent effects of the system 
would more and more facilitate its operation. This 
is, in fact, the plan pursued in many, if not all our 
congregations ; and where it is most fully tested, 
causes the least irritation, and is found to be produc- 
tive of most edification and thankfulness. 

A minister or elder, in conversing with applicants, 
should have it in view not only to ascertain their 
acquaintance with doctrinal and denominational prin- 
ciples, but also to discover what spirit they are of, 
and whether they speak of religion as those who feel 
its value and have experienced its power. There is 
much need for caution in this province, lest we usurp 
the office of the Searcher of Hearts ; but still, know- 
ledge may be uttered with a marked heedlessness and 
irreverence not easily reconcileable with godly fear ; 
l/vhile just views may be associated with a humility 
and seriousness in stating them, strongly corroborative 
of simplicity and godly sincerity. 

Supposing each applicant thus conversed with, 
repeatedly and apart, what other steps should be taken 
to test honesty of profession ? Attestations should be 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



95 



asked from parties the best qualified to give them. 
It is good to obtain as many of these as possible, 
though some of them may be of less value than the 
rest; because facts of consequence are occasionally 
developed where the disclosure of them was least ex- 
pected. Some churches make light of testimonials 
from certain other churches, and scorn to ask or take 
them as any evidence of saintship ; but the conse- 
quence is, that abandoned and impenitent offenders 
are sometimes admitted by them, whom other societies 
had rejected. Though written testimonials are useful, 
still greater benefit often results from asking references 
to christian friends, and communicating with such 
parties orally. People will say what they will not 
write, and speech has much significance which writing 
wants. It should be asked whether the person, if he 
be the head of a family, be known to observe family 
worship ; whether he ever formed or attended prayer 
meetings ; whether he be regarded and spoken of as 
a truly religious person, etc. etc. Such inquiries 
must of course be exceedingly varied, according to 
the circumstances. Were such faithfulness of scru- 
tiny habitually and impartially instituted, improper 
applications for admission into the church would be 
reduced in number, while those of a satisfactory 
character would be increased, and the session would 
find its duties become both easier and pleasanter. A 
healthful tone of piety in a church has the same 
tendency to scare the impious. When it becomes 
understood that all the members of the church give 
as God hath prospered them for the maintenance of 



96 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



his cause, the avaricious and niggardly will not 
relish such fellowship. When congregational or 
district prayer meetings become so well attended 
that attendance on them is expected, and a failure in 
it is noticed and remarked upon, a prayerless person 
will connect himself elsewhere. The practical effi- 
ciency of a church is thus intimately allied with its 
purity, and the improvement of either is the advance- 
ment of both. 

It remains to add, that much perplexity may be 
looked for in reducing these principles to practice. 
That none but christians should belong to the church 
of Christ, is a maxim commanding ready assent. But 
to know what we should do, and how far we should 
go, in ascertaining who are christians, is often a 
problem of very difficult solution. Sometimes there 
is little evidence to be had, and the case, in its own 
nature, may not allow of much ; but, when all that 
exists is favourable, it is a questionable proceeding to 
deny Christ's ordinances to those who are probably 
his people. No set of rules can be instituted for our 
guidance, because piety may be proved or disproved 
in any one of numberless ways ; and the cases to be 
considered are so different, that each must be decided 
on its own merits. It may be said that, where there 
is any doubt, it is best to err on the side of caution, 
and exclude for the time. But there is always doubt ; 
for we have no discernment of spirits, no absolute 
knowledge of the people of God, and the question still 
recurs, what degree of doubt demands and vindicates 
postponement of admission? We must have some 



THE RULING ELDEKSHIP. 



97 



standard or other in our minds by which we try re- 
quisite qualification ; and whatever that standard may 
be, whether it be high or whether it be low, we have 
still to determine what, in many cases, is very hard to 
be determined, whether the person applying come up 
to it or not? The difficulty which thus hangs over 
the duty should dispose every elder to think forbear- 
ingly of the manner in which other elders discharge 
it. Let each for himself elicit all the evidence he can 
of true christian character. When a case is sub- 
mitted by the brethren in the eldership, let him freely 
and fully express his views of the testimonies prof- 
fered. But if, after all this, the session receive one 
whom he would have rejected, let him remember that 
persons may hold the same principle of pure com- 
munion, and yet differ in the application of it ; and 
let him give all the rest equal credit with himself for 
w ishing to promote the church's highest interests. 

Sect. 5. — It belongs to the session, in their collec- 
tive capacity, to administer church discipline ; for the 
purity of the church must be respected, not only in 
the admission, but also the superintendence of its 
members. The duty is of high importance. ' It was 
one of the greatest glories (says Bishop Burnet) of 
the primitive church, that they were so governed that 
none of their number could sin openly without a public 
censure and a long separation from the holy com- 
munion; which they judged was defiled by a promis- 
cuous admitting of ail persons to it. Had they con- 
sulted the arts of policy, they would not have held in 



98 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



converts by so strict a way of proceeding, lest their 
discontent might have driven them away, at a time 
when to be a christian was attended with so many 
discouragements, that it might seem dangerous, by so 
severe a discipline, to frighten the world out of their 
communion. But the pastors of that time resolved to 
follow the rules delivered them by the apostles, and 
trusted God with the success, which answered and 
exceeded all their expectations; for nothing convinced 
the world more of the truth of that religion than to 
see those trusted with the care of souls watch so 
effectually over their manners, that some sins which, 
in these loose ages in which we live, pass but for 
common effects of human frailty, men were made to 
abstain from the communion for many years, and did 
cheerfully submit to such rules as might be truly 
medicinal for curing those diseases in their minds/ m 
When persons deny the offences laid to their charge, 
and the session is constrained to lead a proof of guilt, 
this province of duty may become delicate and ar- 
duous. In general, however, it is not necessary to 
have recourse to a formal trial. Firm and affectionate 
dealing, based on a well-informed acquaintance with 
the case, commonly secures a full acknowledgment of 
the truth, and is also the appointed and appropriate 
means of reaching the grand end of discipline— the 
edification of the offender. Very much might be 
written on this head ; but I deem a prolonged discus- 
sion of it unnecessary. If the elders extend those 
attentions to the backsliding which we have seen to 
* Hist, of the Reformation. Pref. to Part II. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



09 



be due from them individually, the same principles will 
regulate satisfactorily their united and judicial purga- 
tion of scandal. Let not, however, a hasty dismissal 
of this subject impair the conviction of its importance. 
Iniquity cannot be winked at in the church, and the 
presence of God simultaneously enjoyed ; for evil 
cannot dwell with him, neither can fools stand in his 
sight. As the Jews ejected all leaven from their 
houses before the fifteenth day of the month Nisan, 
that none might be found with them after the killing 
of the paschal lamb during the days of unleavened 
bread, so let us 6 purge out the old leaven' (the leaven 
that is of impure fellowship) from the house of God, 
still more sacred than our own dwellings, that we 
6 may be a new lump as we are unleavened. For 
even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.' * It 
was one of the encomiums bestowed on the Ephesian 
church — 6 Thou canst not bear them which are evil.'f 
Let us read our obligation in its commendation, and 
' he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit 
saith unto the churches.' 

Sect. 6. — The session have to consider any pro- 
posals submitted to it by its own members, or by the 
members of the church, for the improvement, in regard 
to times and forms, of public worship. Here a 
medium must be preserved between inflexible preju- 
dice and restless innovation. Those who are for no 
changes, and those who befriend all changes, are 
equally unreasonable and antiscriptural in their con- 
* 1 Cor. v. 7. t Rev. ii. 2. 



100 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



duct. The duty incumbent on individuals, is no less 
binding on church courts : 6 To prove all things, and 
hold fast that which is good.' A session must also 
learn to respect the will of the congregation, strongly 
entertained and legitimately expressed, without quail- 
ing and succumbing, to the utter loss of character and 
influence, before every breath of opposition pleading 
congregational authority. 

Sect. 7. — Even those institutions which are not 
necessarily or exclusively under the charge of the session, 
should always be in its view, and enjoy its counten- 
ance. A congregation is bound, as persons singly 
are, to do good to all men as there is opportunity, 
If it can have, it ought to have, its day school and 
Sabbath schools, for poor outcast children — its home 
and foreign missionary associations — its christian 
instruction agencies, for visiting wretched and ne- 
glected neighbourhoods — its clothing societies, and 
other instrumentalities of beneficence. Let it not be 
imagined that these operations will drain away the 
resources of a congregation from its own pecuniary 
liabilities. The principle of benevolence, brought 
into action for one good object, will be found avail- 
able for other good objects; and they who are mind- 
ful of missionaries, will not be niggardly to ministers. 
Besides, God has promised to compensate a hundred- 
fold, even in this life, the sacrifices made in his cause ; 
and are we, in disbelief and contempt of these pro- 
mises, to hazard nothing for the promotion of his 
glory? This much is certain, that our self-saving 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



101 



congregations are in general our straitened and de- 
caying congregations; while flourishing churches 
have in many instances to date their prosperity from 
the day they devised liberal things. Let a session 
smile, then, on all these enterprises of faith ; and if 
they have not their origin and direction, let them find 
their spring, their fulcrum, their associating centre, in 
sessional approbation. 

Conclusion. — I conclude these remarks on the 
duties of elders collectively, with two general counsels. 

1, In sessional deliberations, f let all things be 
done with charity.' * Members of session should not 
only be at peace among themselves, but should re- 
gard and treat each other as personal friends. Any 
feud in a session is most ruinous. A silly quarrel 
between two elders, settling down into habitual en- 
mity, may do incalculable mischief ; it vitiates the 
spirit of sessional discussion, and other elders are 
drawn into the misunderstanding, and become as keen 
as the original disputants. A quarrel in the session 
readily extends to the congregation, where each of 
the parties bids for favour and support ; and thus the 
strife diffuses and prolongs itself ; and, 6 where strife 
is, there is confusion and every evil work/f But 
what can I do ? a contentious elder will say. Am I 
to sacrifice truth to peace, and lay down my privileges 
to be trampled on by insolence ? Certainly not : but 
where alienations are formed and perpetuated, this is 
rarely a fair statement of the case. There are 
* 1 Cor. xvL 14. t James iii 16. 



102 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP, 



commonly great faults on both sides ; and supposing 
all the wrong to be on one side, though the aggrieved 
party should not sin, in order to conciliate, he should 
seize opportunities of pacifying where principle is not 
imperilled, and seek the noblest of all victories, in 
overcoming evil with good. If any one set his heart 
on the portion of the peace-maker, it is amazing how 
he will be brought, sooner or later, in one way or 
another, to the possession of the inheritance. 

2. Elders should observe a general silence out of 
doors about their sessional proceedings. It is true that 
sessions are open courts ; equally so as presbyteries : 
and I often feel desirous that all the world looked upon 
them ; for presbytery is nowhere seen to so much ad- 
vantage as in these lowliest of its judicatories. There 
we behold men of christian worth making large sacri- 
fice of time and pains in order to do good. Their 
remarks may want elocution, but they have the higher 
attributes of sound sense and upright principle. The 
time is spent not in talking but in working ; and one 
is surprised, when so little is said, to see so much 
transacted. The wisdom, the candour, the kindness 
manifested on these occasions, have often filled me 
with admiration, and deepened the conviction, that a 
system so benignant in its character must be divine 
in its origin. There are exceptions, no doubt, to such 
commendatory allusions; but all my experience 
warrants me in saying, that if presbytery be its own 
witness anywhere, it commends itself in its sessions. 

These sessions are open courts. Yet they must 
have the right of all courts to sit, when they think 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 103? 

proper, with shut doors ; and as cases which are local, 
and which affect private character, are often adjudi- 
cated on by them, they must, in mercy, exercise this 
right with unusual frequency. Besides, the unosten- 
tatious efficiency of sessions may result partly from 
the absence of all temptations to display; and modest 
operatives may express their opinions freely to brethren, 
who would be completely silenced by the presence of 
the public. Such considerations, in the absence of 
all interdicts, have indisposed our congregations to 
intrude on sessional meetings ; and it were well that 
the same consideration and delicacy prevented mem- 
bers of session from unnecessarily noising about their 
own communings and enactments. When elders, 
without any distinct call of duty to divulge their 
proceedings, must be telling here and there what has 
been passing among them — what such an one said, 
and how such another voted — they stir up contention 
where none existed, they create illicit tribunals to 
overrule their own, and follow a course of which the 
whole tendency is to weaken their official influence, 
and bring their office itself into contempt. It would 
be better for the session to court a direct and staring 
publicity, than have its acts reported and canvassed 
in this discreditable manner. If I remark strongly 
on this indiscretion, the evil which I know it to have 
done to some congregations may be pleaded as an 
apology for apparent vehemence. 



104 



THE RULING ELDEKSHIP. 



CHAPTER IV. 

DUTIES OF ELDERS IN THE HIGHER CHURCH COURTS. 

It is usual for presbyteries, synods, and assemblies to 
consist of ruling elders and ministers in nearly equal 
proportions. But the balance, though respected in 
theory, is not much exemplified in practice. Generally 
speaking, the ministers are most fully in attendance ; 
and the part which elders take in the business tran- 
sacted is still more limited than their numerical 
strength. It is impossible to witness the proceedings 
on these occasions with an unprejudiced eye, and not 
perceive that if the principle of a ruling eldership be 
sound, the application of it in this province is greatly 
defective. As ministers are trained and habituated 
to public speaking, they may be expected perhaps to 
have always the greater share of discussions ; but no 
such circumstance can adequately explain or justify 
the depressed condition of the eldership in all our 
courts of review. Various remedies have been pro- 
posed. It has been suggested that the sessions might 
elect elders belonging to other sessions to represent 
them in the higher courts, when it was not convenient 
for any of their own number to be present. No 
doubt a fuller attendance of elders might be secured 
in this way, and the most competent persons would 
also be the most likely to be chosen. But the scheme 
is attended with difficulties, It is somewhat question- 
able in its principle : it would give a decided pre- 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



105 



ponderance of power to elders, in or near the seat of 
the court; and instead of stirring up sessions to greater 
activity, it would indispose them for action, by prof- 
ferring a transference of duty from themselves to 
others. If the measure remarked on be, for such 
reasons, inexpedient, much may nevertheless be done 
to advance the efficiency of elders in our ecclesiastical 
judicatories. Those elders who can best attend pres- 
byteriai and synodical meetings, may be appointed 
to represent sessions ; and all proper steps should be 
taken to facilitate their attendance. The appointment 
may be prolonged beyond a half-year, or even a whole 
year; for when the term is so very brief, an elder is 
only beginning to know the duties, and to feel some 
freedom in discharging them, when he is replaced by 
his successor. The more vigorous performance of 
other duties by elders, and especially those of a pub- 
lic and beneficial character, will also be found an 
admirable preparation for the right discharge of those 
functions of which we are now speaking. In these 
days elders are often associated with ministers in visit- 
ing congregations and rousing them to a juster sense 
of what they owe to themselves and to the world; and 
if more of our elders were so occupied, the happy 
effects of such discipline on their more judicial ser- 
vices would be speedily apparent. 

In addition to all this, the treasurers, secretaries, 
and presidents of important boards connected with 
Presbyterian denominations, might perhaps be ap- 
pointed members of court ex-otncio — at all events, 
corresponding members ; and if elders were eligible 



106 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



to these trusts, some of the ablest and best men among 
them would be enabled, possibly for many years, to 
benefit the church by their advice. They might justly 
°foe termed representatives, for they would represent 
their religious society in some of its most important 
interests — interests demanding their presence and 
guidance ; and if the mode of their appointment 
would be somewhat anomalous, it may be questioned 
whether any such rigid pattern of presbytery be 
found in the New Testament as would forbid the 
anomaly. 

It is by some such means as these that elders 
would become more influential in the church courts. 
To no purpose is jealousy sown between ministers 
and elders, as if the former wished to keep down the 
latter, when they meet on a common platform to pro- 
mote the same objects. Equally vain is it to think of 
mending matters by urging elders to speak who are 
strangers to the effort, and cannot even make them- 
selves audible. Let men be brought into court who 
can meet its requirements, who have devoted time 
and zeal to ecclesiastical engagements in other fields 
of labour, and there acquired the facilities which only 
experience can impart, and there is no danger but 
they will receive the attention and respect to which 
they are entitled. 

It is not designed by these observations to repre- 
sent the usefulness of ruling elders in the church 
courts as wholly dependent on effective speaking. 
They may render essential service by their general 
attention to the business transacted. If they would 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



107 



ose their office well, and set an example to their 
ministerial coadjutors, let them — 

1. Preserve a decorum of manner befitting the re- 
collection that they are convened in the name of 
Christ, and under the eye of an evil, but discerning, 
world. A heedless inattention to the affairs in hand, 
an idle talking with neighbours, and unrestrained 
laughter at the jokes of speakers, all these liberties, 
beyond very narrow limits, are utterly unsuitable to 
the occasion and circumstances, and cause more 
injury than is suspected to the interests of religion. 
Let them — 

2. Attend to the entire argument of a case in which, 
they are to give judgment. An elder may not have 
it in his power to participate in all the proceedings of 
a presbytery or synod ; but in these circumstances he 
should not subdivide his time among many causes, 
and give an ill-informed vote on all of them. It is 
much better to sift certain questions thoroughly, and 
to evince his mind on these alone. Let them — 

3. Make a careful selection of the business to which, 
their ion shall be mainly devoted. Personal 
squabbles and bitter controversies have an exciting 
interest, and commonly secure a full house and ample 
time for their consideration. Little apprehension 
reed be entertained that such matters will be ne- 
glected. If an elder would be very useful, he should 

Lis heart, and expend his time very principally, 
cn those measures of beneficence which are apt, from 
being of a general nature, to be deferred to thin 
meetings, or summarily disposed of, although they 



108 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



vitally affect the reformation of the church, and the 
conversion of the world. Let them — 

4. Beware of yielding to prejudices of their own, 
or passionate appeals by others, which would disturb 
tranquil and candid deliberation. A strong effort of 
self-denial is often indispensable that we may fulfil 
the mandate : i Judge not according to the appear- 
ance, but judge righteous judgment.'* Nor is it 
enough that a cool and unbiassed temperament be 
preserved in these judicatories. Their nature and 
ends call not only for impartiality, but for devotion 
and spiritual-mindedness ; and he who has not the 
gift of addressing his brethren with fluent utterance, 
will perform a far nobler service in looking above 
men, to address a throne of grace, and entreat the 
Head of the church to direct his servants by his 
Spirit, and crown their efforts with his blessing. 



* John vH. 24. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



100 



PART III. 
QUALIFICATIONS OF ELDERS. 
CHAPTER I. 

AGE, ETC. 

The word 6 elder ' points to age, and supposes, even 
in its official use, that the functionaries so designated 
are old enough to have some experience. This re- 
mark, however, must not be overstrained. We know 
that attainments are not always in the ratio of years ; 
and, if a young man be otherwise qualified for the 
eldership, he ought not to be held disqualified from 
the mere circumstance of his youth. Timothy was, 
perhaps, the youngest of Paul's coadjutors; and yet 
he appears to have been the most efficient of them all, 
We need the fervour of youth ; and if this quality has 
been well directed, and a career, though brief, has 
been usefully occupied, the church may freely elect 
such of its members to office, on the principle that 
they have lived longest who have done most. 

In alliance with this qualification for the elder's 
office, I may notice the importance of having some 
time at one's disposal to devote to its duties. A writer 



110 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



who has in various ways done good service to pres- 
bytery, says on this subject — 4 An indispensable 
requisite to the discharge of all duty is time, and, we 
may add, residence. At the same time, let not any 
entertain exaggerated ideas on the point. Let it not 
be imagined that the duties of the elder are such as 
seriously to encroach on one's leisure. Where the 
districts or proportions are small, and this can be 
secured only by the multiplication of elders, a few 
hours steadily devoted every week to the parochial 
duty of the elder, I have been informed by those who 
have made successful trial, are sufficient, in ordinary 
circumstances, to meet the leading moral and religious 
wants of the district.' * 

I might multiply observations on such qualifications 
for the eldership ; but I think it better to speak of 
others which are less circumstantial, and more spiritual 
in their character. 



CHAPTER II. 

PIETY. 

The highest of all requisites to the right discharge of 
the duties of an elder, is piety. This will do much 
alone : all things else, without this, are nothing. If 
I viewed the subject in the light of argument, I would 

* Eldership of the Church of Scotland, by the Rev. Dr 
Lorimer, p. 78. 



TUE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



Hi 



pass from this qualification after naming it ; for what 
need is there to prove that religion is necessary to a 
religious office-bearer? That is an axiomatic proposi- 
tion ; and commends itself to acquiescence by its self- 
evident reasonableness. But the subject is now viewed 
practically ; and moral truth, to be duly estimated, 
must not only be heard and owned, but dwelt upon. 
I feel, too, that I now touch the central mechanism, 
or rather the very source of all vital action ; and that, 
failing here, I should fail wholly in this solemn and 
responsible service. I am desirous, therefore, to di- 
late a little on this topic, if I may thereby deepen the 
conviction, that elders should not only be pious, but 
eminently and devotedly pious, and should aspire at 
new and unprecedented attainments in the life of 
faith. 

True godliness is the one thing needful to all ; and 
there is no escape from its claims in shunning sacred 
office. Some, indeed, who pay little attention to re- 
ligion themselves, remark very solemnly on the re- 
sponsibility of spiritual guides, as if it were a com- 
mendation of themselves to think thus awfully of 
duties of which the performance is devolved upon 
others, and as if it were a palliation, amounting almost 
to exculpation of their heedlessness, that they had 
not attempted to occupy these high places. This, 
however, is poor consolation. Have these persons, in 
truth, estimated their merited perdition, and, finding 
it quite moderate and endurable, reconciled them- 
selves to the prospect? There is no scriptural de- 
lineation of future and eternal retribution which 



112 



THE .RULING ELDERSHIP. 



would warrant in any worker of evil such placid 
expectation of its approach. Hell will be to all 
inheriting it the blackness of darkness, an abode 
of torment, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is 
not quenched. If comfort may be, in any instance, 
derived from minor accountability and desert of 
punishment, surely it belongs not to privileged 
Britons. A clearer and fuller revelation of divine 
truth has been imparted to us than was possessed by 
Chorazin or Bethsaida ; and are not all who abuse 
higher opportunities proportionally exposed to the 
denunciation — 'It shall be more tolerable for Tyre 
and Sidon, at the judgment, than for you V * Still, 
they who are set over the house of God are under 
very special obligations to be themselves religious. 
They have had many talents committed to them ; and, 
4 unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be 
much required : and to whom men have committed 
much, of him they will ask the more.'f 

At present, however, I speak of piety as qualifying 
men for office, and if the statement be strong, it is 
not extreme, that the simplest and most childlike piety 
is the best of all qualifications, even for the loftiest 
official engagements. All the duties of an elder have 
indissoluble relation to piety, and are so dependent 
on its stimulus and succours, that they must fade or 
flourish with it. Individual godliness here enters so 
much into official fitness, that it is often impossible to 
discriminate them. The remark applies to teaching 
as well as to ruling elders. It might not seem, at 
* Luke x. 14. f Luke xii. 48. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



113 



first sight, as if goodness and oratory had a very 
intimate connection ; and yet the close alliance, and 
almost absolute identification, of moral excellence and 
true eloquence has been asserted by the Eoman au- 
thor Quintilian, in language very remarkable to have 
been spoken by a heathen. ' Let our orator, then,' he 
says, ' be such as Marcus Cato has defined him — a 
good man, expert in speaking ; but that which he has 
placed first, is, in the nature of the case, the more 
excellent and important requisite — the being a truly 
good man.' * Again, he remarks, still more explicitly, 
in the same connexion — ; Xor do I contend only that 
an orator should be a good man ; but that without 
being a good man he cannot be an orator.'f I have 
cited this opinion of the influence exerted by moral 
frame on public efficiency, to strengthen the persua- 
sion of it where it is still more obvious. TTell may 
we assert, not only that the guardians of the church 
should be good men, but that without being good 
men they cannot be its guardians. Their rarest 
exploits even, must chiefly result from possessing, in 
rich abundance, the commonest graces. Advert to 
those great spiritual benefactors through whom God 
blessed the world in their respective ages, and to what 
is their signal usefulness most remarkably traceable ? 

* 1 Sit ergo nobis orator, quern institnirnns, is qui a M. Catone 
finitnr, vir bonus, dicendi jieritus. Yerura id puod ille posuit prius, 
etiam ipsa natrura potius ac majus est, utique vir bonus.' — De Inst. 
Ora. Lib. 12. cap. 1. 

t 1 Neqne enim tan turn id dico, earn qui sit orator, virum bonum 
esse oportere ; sed ne futurum quidein oratorem, nisi virum bonum.' 



114 



TIIE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



They may have possessed genius, acuteness, or fancy, 
of an elevated order ; but these, without piety, would 
have been inert or mischievous. They* were mainly 
animated and impelled in their philanthropic career by 
superior faith in the divine testimony — love to God 
and man — realising anticipations of future glory — in 
short, by those graces of the Spirit which are acces- 
sible and indispensable alike to teachers and taught. 
If, too, we inquire by what hinderances their efficiency 
was mostly impaired, it will appear that these were not 
so much intellectual as moral. The glaring transgres- 
sions of David and Peter need not to be mentioned — 
appalling violations of universally incumbent duty, by 
which the wicked, to this day, embolden and excuse 
themselves in the commission of their wickedness. 

To adduce less flagrant examples, no character ap- 
pears more blameless and amiable in the inspired 
annals of imperfect men, than that of Daniel. No 
specific act of iniquity is recorded against him. Yet 
he participated largely in prevalent calamity. And 
why? Was it from any defect in his prophetic 
powers? — any shortcoming in extraordinary endow- 
ments ? His own explanation is, ' Neither have we 
obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his 
laws, which he set before us by his servants the pro- 
phets. Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even 
by departing, that they might not obey thy voice ; 
therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath 
that is written in the law of Moses, the servant of 
God, because we have sinned against him.'* The 
* Dan. ix. 10, 11. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



115 



apostle of the Gentiles laboured abundantly, and with 
distinguished success. If, in the view of his mighty 
achievements, one could ask why he did not accom- 
plish still more ? the answer would be found in such 
sayings as these : 1 In me. that is, in my flesh, dwelleth 
no good thing ; for to will is present with me, but how 
to perform that which is good, I find not : for the 
good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would 
not, that I do.' * Modern history furnishes similar 
attestations. Not to speak of such lapses as Cran- 
mer's recantation of Protestantism, or Calvin's alleged 
participation in the cruel death of Servetus— the in- 
juriousness of which to the cause of truth is too 
obvious and notorious to require more than passing 
mention — we find all the Reformers, in their autobio- 
graphical sketches, lamenting their defective piety, 
and ascribing to this cause their dispiriting repulses 
and disappointments. 8 1 have done somewhat,' says 
Knox, 4 but not according to my duty.' e He acknoAv- 
ledges,' says M'Crie, abridging his MS. letters, ' that 
in public ministrations he had been deficient in fer- 
vency and fidelity; in impartiality and diligence ; and 
that his conscience now accused him of not having 
been sufficiently plain in admonishing offenders. 'f 
Similar citations might be adduced in great numbers, 
all showing that these great and good men partially 
failed, not from wanting ability and facilities, but by 
relaxing application, or resenting injury, or compro- 
mising conviction, or in some such way transgressing 
the common law of Christ. 
* Rom. Tii. 18, etc. f M'Crie's Life of Knox, voL i. p. 25. 



116 



THE RULING- ELDERSHIP. 



It is one of the saddest tokens of ecclesiastical de- 
clension, when ungodly ministers and elders come to 
be relished or endured. Even in these cases, it is 
not so much that piety is wholly and avowedly dis- 
pensed with, as that the practical standard of it is 
reduced and shrivelled. Apostacy veils its favour 
for these reprobate functionaries, under a professed 
disapproval of their accusers as acrimonious and un- 
charitable — all implying that genuine piety is neces- 
sary in such office-bearers; that respect is due to 
them only on the supposition of its being possessed ; 
and that a disproval of its existence would divest 
them, even in the estimation of the profligate, of 
all title to excuse or sufferance. Those elders among 
us who labour in word and doctrine, would do well 
to lay solemnly to heart these admonitory considera- 
tions. If we be not pious, and if this were known, 
our ministrations would be abhorred. Suppose a 
minister, by some infallible criterion, shown to be 
irreligious, a total stranger to vital godliness, and 
the prey, as all unrenewed men are, of depraved 
sentiments and lusts, could such an instructor, amid 
the certain knowledge of his true character, obtain 
a hearing or preserve his station? Allow him the 
finest genius, the most finished oratory, yea, ap- 
plication the most insense, and energy the most 
indomitable, still, what would all these avail the 
acknowledged and convicted impostor? Think of 
the sorrow or scorn which must pervade an assem- 
bly, in hearing him elaborately prove what they 
know him not to believe, and earnestly recommend 



THE RULING- ELDERSHIP, 



117 



what they knew him not to esteem, and awfully 
denounce what they knew him not to dislike, and im- 
ploringly inculcate what they knew him habitually to 
neglect! A comedian or buffoon may be applauded; 
he performs to spectators like himself; he avows his 
dissimulation, of which the perfection is his praise ; 
and his admitted aim is simply to amuse. But how 
shall the man be borne with, who, in practising as 
thorough mimicry, perverts religion into his mask, 
and the pulpit into his stage, and the church of 
Christ into his auditory, avowing all the while sim- 
plicity and godly sincerity, citing revelation as his 
sanction, and God as his witness ! Were such a 
man to appear in his true colours, his exhibition 
would be detested by all; 4 men would clap their 
hands at him, and hiss him out of his place/* The 
delineation applies with scarcely diminished force to 
ruling elders. If their piety were disproved, how 
could their presidency be tolerated, and who could 
see, without shuddering, a profane hand bear the 
symbols of Christ's sacrifice to the guests at his table? 

Such an exposure can rarely occur. A measure of 
dubiety is wisely cast over our state and condition, 
to bound alike our approval and condemnation of 
fellow-men, either of which might do injury by ex- 
cess. But though the outward effect is thus modified, 
the case is not essentially changed. That conduct is 
not less nefarious for being obscured, which, if it were 
only developed in its naked and vivid deformity, 
would elicit such execrations. Though man cannot 

* Job xxvii. 23. 
H 



118 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



discern it, God can; and what are the plaudits of a 
world worth, while he who made all worlds is be- 
holding and abominating the secret fault ? The day, 
too, is coming, when he shall remove the veil that is 
upon all faces, when he shall try every man's work of 
what kind it is, and disclose its hidden elements to an 
observant universe. Then shall the profane usurpers 
of sacred office, who, like Satan, transformed them- 
selves into angels of light, stand publicly detected — 
the detection more tremendous for having been de- 
ferred, presenting the more guilt and incurring the 
more anguish and ignominy; and while the Judge of 
all convicts the holiest pretensions of basest hypocrisy 
and perfidy, and glorious saints and seraphs contem- 
plate the conviction with indignant loathing, com- 
mensurate with their faultless purity, how shall the 
miserable culprits, who used to court ostentatious 
publicity and celebrity, call upon the rocks and moun- 
tains to cover them, and feel as if hell itself would be 
desirable, if its closing mouth would somewhat shelter 
them from such divine, universal, and overwhelming 
reprobation ! 

This is strong language; but God forbid we should 
seek relief from dreadful realities in gentle designations. 
Let our comfort be found in fleeing from £ the wrath 
to come,' and 'laying hold on eternal life,' in making 
personal and habitual application to the c blood of 
sprinkling,' and proving the genuineness of our in- 
terest in Christ, by the excellence and amplitude of 
its fruits. 

We are much in danger of taking our piety too 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



119 



readily for granted. Office-bearers in the church are 
especially exposed to this temptation. A philosopher, 
versed in the sciences, is necessarily acquainted with 
their simple and primary elements; and so a superin- 
tendent of the church, a judge and guardian of the 
qualification of its members, can hardly suppose him- 
self devoid of that knowledge which every babe in 
Christ possesses, and which is supposed in every ser- 
vice which he performs, and every sentence which he 
utters. Then, all his friends and acquaintances, and 
christian society, and the community in general, give 
him credit, as they ought, in charitable construction, 
for unfeigned godliness; and how hard is it to distrust 
this concurrent testimony, when it is all in favour 
of ourselves! It might seem as if the piety of our 
elders were demonstrated by the very terms on which 
they hold their office ; they serve the church gratui- 
tously ; and what else than sincere and decided religion 
could prompt and carry on their disinterested labours? 
The genuineness of piety is not safely inferred from 
such premises. Ungodly men have crept into spiritual 
office in every age — not excepting the periods of 
fiercest persecution. Let none rest, then, in such 
fallacious evidence, but let all of us give all 'diligence 
to making our calling and election sure.'* 

To secure and cherish piety, we must use the means 
appointed for the end. 1% is not enough that we come 
into contact with these means in relation to others ; 
we must frequently engage them expressly for our- 
selves. The word of God should be read daily, with 
* 2 Pet. i. 10. 



120 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



an immediate view to personal profiting. A master 
in Israel must become as a little child, that he may 
enter the kingdom, and as a 'new-born babe, desire 
the sincere milk of the word, that he may grow 
thereby.'* 

The importance of prayer cannot be too highly 
estimated. In this exercise our Lord spent whole 
nights. The apostles considered its demands upon 
their time commensurate with those of preaching, and 
entitled to be mentioned first: 6 We will give our- 
selves continually to prayer, and the ministry of the 
word. 'I The constancy of Paul's petitioning is mani- 
fest from its particularity: 4 For God is my witness, 
whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, 
that, without ceasing, I make mention of you always 
in my prayers.'J 6 I cease not to give thanks for 
you, making mention of you in my prayers.'§ 6 We 
give thanks to God always for you all, making mention 
of you in our prayers.' || His epistles abound with 
such statements; and it will be well for us, and well 
for our congregations, if they find an echo in our ex- 
perience. Some of the Reformers speak of having 
assigned several hours daily to prayer, though it be 
difficult to reconcile the averment with their numerous 
and onerous occupations ; and Luther, before being as 
enlightened in the faith as he afterwards became, was 
wont to express the assistance which he derived from 
prayer for other duties by his well-known maxim — 
6 Bene precasse est bene studuisse ' — to have well 

* 1 Pet. ii. 2. f Acts vi. 4. 

t Rom. i. 9. § Eph. i. 16. || 1 Thess. i. 2. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



121 



prayed is to have well studied. The following passage 
on prayer occurs in Fuller's sermon, delivered at the 
funeral of the Rev. J. SutclifF : — c One of the sentences 
uttered by your deceased pastor, when drawing near 
his end was, " I wish I had prayed more." This was 
one of the weighty sayings which are not unfrequently 
uttered in the view of the solemn realities of eternity. 
This wish has often occurred to me since his departure 
as equally applicable to myself. ... In reviewing 
my own life, / wish I had prayed more than I have for 
the success of the gospel. I have seen enough to 
furnish me with matter of thanksgiving ; but, had I 
prayed' more, I might have seen more. I wish I had 
prayed more for the salvation of those about ?ne, and 
who are given me in charge. When the father of the 
lunatic doubted whether Jesus could do anything for 
him, he was told in answer that if he could believe, 
all things were possible. On hearing this, he burst 
into tears, saying, " Lord, I believe : help thou mine 
unbelief." He seems to have understood our Lord as 
suggesting that, if the child was not healed, it would 
not be owing to any want of power in him, but to his 
own unbelief. This might well cause him to weep 
and exclaim as he did. The thought of his unbelief 
causing the death of his child was distressing. The 
same thought has occurred to me as applicable to the 
neglect of the prayer of faith. Have I not by this 
guilty negligence, been accessory to the destruction of 
some that are dear to me ; and were I equally con- 
cerned for the souls of my connexions as he was for 
the life of his child, should I not weep with him ? I 



122 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



wish I had prayed more for my own soul. I might 
then have enjoyed much more communion with God. 
The gospel affords the same grounds for spiritual 
enjoyments as it did to the first christians. I wish I 
had prayed more than I have in all my undertakings : 
I might then have had my steps more directed by 
God, and attended with fewer deviations from his will. 
There is no intercourse with God without prayer. It 
is thus that we " talk with God, and have our con- 
versation in heaven/' ' Stimulated by these examples 
and counsels, let us be 'instant in prayer.' The 
happy result will show that the ' prayer of faith ' has 
still power with God, and prevails, — that he will 
6 regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise 
their prayer.' * In response to our entreaties, he 'will 
create in us a clean heart, and renew within us a 
right spirit — not casting us away from his presence, or 
taking his Holy Spirit away from us; but restoring 
unto us the joys of his salvation ; and upholding us 
with his free Spirit. Then shall we teach transgres- 
sors his ways ; and sinners shall be converted unto 
him.'f 



CHAPTER III. 

KNOWLEDGE. 



Ruling elders do not pass through a collegiate course 
in preparation for office, and they are not expected to 
be deeply learned. They ought, however, to sustain 
* Ps. cii. 17. f Ps. li. 10. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



123 



and to deserve the character of being well-informed 
men. Without a measure of knowledge, both theological 
and general, surpassing the average attainments of 
society. they must discharge very imperfectly their 
important duties. TVe have seen that they have to 
comfort the afflicted, to remonstrate with the offending, 
to instruct the young, to test the knowledge of others ; 
and how shall they do all this, if they are not themselves 
1 well instructed unto the kingdom of God "?' There 
are other duties belonging to the eldership, for the 
right fulfilment of which it is still more needful that 
they give themselves to reading. They sit as members 
cf presbyteries, for example, when discourses, and other 
exercises of students are judged of ; and what a power 
would the appropriate remarks of such judges possess 
in recommending to students juster views, or better 
taste, or a more disciplined accuracy ? Even were 
they not to speak at all on such occasions, of what 
importance is it for elders to give an enlightened 
vote on the proficiency of students, and the licensing 
of probationers ? 

Elders should read those works which christians in 
general read, in consideration of their superior excel- 
lence, that has won for them a wide circulation ; and 
also in order not to be found ignorant where ignorance 
would be most discreditable. They would be reason- 
ably ashamed if they had to answer, No, when asked 
whether they had ever read the Pilgrim's Progress, 
or Boston's Fourfold State, or Doddridge's Rise and 
Progress of Religion in the Soul, or James' Anxious 
Inquirer. 



124 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



But an elder's reading should be considerably in- 
fluenced by his official station. The best commentaries 
on the scriptures, the best systems of theology, the 
best histories of the church, have all special claims 
on his careful perusal. Those books which the church 
has adopted as standards of its faith, or seasonable 
exhibitions of doctrine and duty, or compends of the 
laws and forms which regulate its government, ought 
to be ever within his reach for consultation and re- 
ference. 

But, above all, let elders study the bible. 6 The 
whole scriptures/ says Dr Dick, 6 are delivered to us 
as the rule of our faith and obedience, and are the 
instrument which God employs for the conversion of 
sinners, and the advancement of the divine life in 
their souls. They are the light which conducts them 
to the Saviour, and guides them in the way of salva- 
tion. There are, indeed, other religious institutions ; 
but as they are founded on the word, so, as far as 
they contribute to accomplish this end, their efficacy 
is derived from it. Prayer is an eminent means of 
obtaining spiritual blessings; but the directory of 
prayer is the word, from which alone w T e learn what 
blessings we should ask, and what are the grounds on 
which we may hope for success. The sacraments, 
also, are means of salvation ; but they would be unin- 
telligible, unless their design, and the import of the 
symbols and actions, had been explained; and we 
should have no encouragement to use them, if we had 
not been assured that they are seals of the new cove- 
nant, and the Holy Spirit had been promised to ren- 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



125 



der them effectual.' * I do not say that elders alone 
should read the bible, for all are bound to do so, what- 
ever be their history, circumstances, or position; but 
I do say that they should read it more because they 
are elders. From all official doubts, and fears, and 
difficulties, let them take refuge in revelation. Its 
aid is boundless and ceaseless. Would you pray 
with copiousness and fluency? — then search the scrip- 
tures. Would you address a word in season to him 
that is weary? — then search the scriptures. Would 
you instruct effectively your own families, or schools, 
and classes ? — then search the scriptures. Would you 
repel triumphantly the artillery of error by weapons 
not carnal? — then search the scriptures. These 
scriptures are the 'good seed;' — these scriptures are 
the £ wells of salvation ;' — -these scriptures are God's 
6 lively oracles;' — these scriptures are 'the sword of 
the Spirit;' and all this multiplicity of figures shows 
that none of them is equal to its subject; that they 
are all needed, and all inadequate to denote the vast 
and diversified value of the word of God. Wherever, 
then, you may be wanting, and wherever you may 
be weak, seek, above all things, to be 'mighty in the 
scriptures.' 



CHAPTER IV. 

SOUNDNESS IN THE FAITH. 

Of course every one thinks his own belief orthodox. 
But Presbyterian churches have symbolic books ; and 
* Lectures, vol. iv. pp. 77, 78. 



126 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



elders, when ordained to office, solemnly avow ac- 
quiescence in the doctrinal principles which these 
books contain. They would be guilty, then, of heinous 
dishonesty, if they accepted office in a church and did 
not hold the doctrines of scripture, set forth in its 
subordinate standards. It is not enough, however, 
that an elder coldly assent to a Calvinistic creed. He 
should be a devoted friend of evangelical religion, and 
against all contrary errors c should earnestly contend 
for the faith which was once delivered unto the 
saints/* These words, however, would be miscon- 
strued if they were explained as sanctioning a viru- 
lent advocacy of gospel truth. 'Be ready always/ 
says an apostle, 4 to give an answer to every man that 
asketh you, a reason of the hope that is in you with 
meekness and fear.' f Thus speaks the apostle of the 
circumcision; and the same principle is enunciated 
by the apostle of the Gentiles when he exhorts, that 
{ speaking the truth in love, we may grow up into 
him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ.' | 
Let us show that we have the truth of Christ by dis- 
playing the spirit of Christ, and ever act as remem- 
bering that, although we should have a speculative 
acquaintance with his truth, yet, 6 if any man have 
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.' And are 
we, then, to be men-pleasers, and avoid offence by 
compromising faithfulness? Assuredly not. We are 
to maintain the truth at all hazards; and always de- 
fend it in its own spirit, just that our defence of it 
may be more forcible and more effectual. When so 

* Jude 3. f 1 Pet, iii. 15. J Eph. iv. 15. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



127 



many crude theories are afloat, and old heresies in a 
new s;uise are carrying away such multitudes of the 
simple, it is especially important that office-bearers in 
the church hear and ponder these words of Paul to 
the elders of Ephesus: 'Wherefore I take you to 
record this day that I am pure from the blood of all 
men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all 
the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto your- 
selves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy 
Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of 
God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 
For I know this, that after my departing shall griev- 
ous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 
Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking per- 
verse things to draw away disciples after them. There- 
fore watch, and remember, that, by the space of three 
years I ceased not to warn every one night and day 
with tears.'* The importance of this topic would 
dispose me to discuss it more fully. But I withhold 
any additional remarks of my own to make room for 
the following important and seasonable observations. 
Dr Heugh, in pointing out the particular errors 
against which the melancholy circumstances of the 
Genevan church are well fitted to guard the British 
churches, says: — 4 The first I notice is the danger of 
allowing unsound doctrines to enter into a church. 
The truth as it is in Jesus, the word of the truth of 
the gospel, is a sacred trust, committed by God to his 
people, than which, one more momentous and holy 
cannot be confided to man ; and the fidelity of the 
* Acts xx. 26-31, 



128 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



church is to be proved by the vigilance with which 
she guards this grand deposit. "That good thing 
which was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy 
Ghost which dwelleth in us," said Paul to one of the 
primitive teachers. " Thou hast kept the word of my 
patience," was the approbation of our Lord, bestowed 
on one of the primitive churches. K Contend earnestly 
for the faith once delivered to the saints," is a divine 
command to the whole body of the faithful in Christ 
J esus. . . . The Genevan church, and too many 
of the continental churches as well as she, are, indeed, 
sad and solemn warnings to us, warnings, reiterating 
those long ago supplied by the degeneracy of many 
churches which were planted and watered by the 
apostles of Christ — warnings to ministers of the 
gospel, to " hold fast the faith," to " take heed to 
themselves and to the doctrine," and to " continue 99 
to do so, if they would save themselves and them that 
hear them ; and I will add, warnings to the whole 
christian body, to " prove all things, and to hold fast 
that which is good." It appears that to scarcely any 
one subject do the inspired apostles more abundantly 
direct the primitive churches than to this, nearly all 
their epistles containing solemn admonitions against 
corrupting, or departing from, the faith ; which, I am 
sure, were never more needed by the British, as well 
as the continental churches, than at this day. For, 
to take but one example, it is not too much to say, 
that the vast Hieuarchial Establishment of England, 
is at this moment nearer to the deadly errors, the 
debasing superstitions, and the befooling mummeries 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



129 



of Popery, than a century ago, Geneva was near to 
Unitarianism and Neology. It has been stated 
publicly, and without contradiction, by one of the 
most devout aud cautious among the ministers of 
London, at a public meeting recently held in that 
metropolis, that of the eighteen thousand clergy of 
various orders connected with the Church of England, 
not more than three thousand could be found willing 
to subscribe any declaration whatever against the new 
phase of Popery, designated Puseyism. Yes, the 
enemy is sowing tares over all the British soil, the 
most unfit of all seasons, assuredly, for men to sleep.'* 
There are other qualifications for the eldership 
which might have been introduced and discussed with 
great propriety. But I have already given a sample 
sufficiently large, perhaps, to appear formidable ; and 
of a nature so fundamental and comprehensive, that 
they cannot be dutifully pondered without suggesting 
all the rest. 

After showing how much elders have to do, and 
how much they have to learn, it is time to direct 
their attention to more encouraging views of their 
office. 

* State of Religion in Geneva and Belgium. 



130 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



PAET IV. 

ENCOURAGEMENTS OF ELDERS. 

Elders have many and great encouragements in 
executing their office. Ail of them centre in the fact 
that it is of divine appointment. It has been impres- 
sively said of the ministry, and may with equal 
truth be affirmed of the eldership — < This subordinate 
rule is all derived from Christ. It is the Lord who 
makes them rulers in his household. In that family 
none has authority, in the strictest sense of the term, 
but He. No king, no parliament, no man, no body 
of men, has any right to constitute men stewards over 
the family of God. That belongs to Him who is 
Jehovah, " set as his King on the holy hill of Zion," 
to Him who is set as " a Son over his own house." 
All church power comes forth from Him. The 
steward or overseer, though chosen, if such be the 
appointment of the Master, by his fellow- servants, is 
to be guided in managing the household not by their 
will, but by the will of their common Lord.'* 
Hence it follows, — 

1. That the office is honourable in itself. They who 
would not be the servants of subjects, are yet proud 

* Discourse on the death of the Eev. Robert Balmer, D.D., by 
the Rev. John Brown, D.D., Edinburgh, p. 25. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



131 



to be in the service of a sovereign ; and the greater 
and more illustrious a sovereign is, the more eager 
are the ambitious to fill places around the throne. 
Shall it be reckoned no distinction, then, no gratifying 
and animating distinction, to hold a public trust from 
the King of kings, and Lord of lords — from Him who 
is God over all, blessed for ever ? Elders may have 
temporal callings, and spend much of their time even 
in manual labours ; but all this held true of Paul, 
without invalidating the authority and dignity of a 
higher vocation. They may be called lay elders, as 
if to divest them of all ecclesiastical status; but 
human appellations cannot annul or modify a divine 
institution ; and an elder, entering his ecclesiastical 
functions in a scriptural manner, and cherishing the 
spirit while performing the duties of his post, is as 
truly an office-bearer in the church as were the 
prophets and priests under a former economy, or the 
apostles and evangelists under a newer and better 
dispensation. He is the servant of the most higli 
God ! What a power is there! what an impulse in 
that single consideration ! If his heart misgive him, 
at any time, in struggling with official difficulties ; if 
he be tempted to be ashamed or dismayed under the 
odium and sneers to which fidelity may sometimes 
subject him, he may well be reassured and emboldened 
on looking at his commission, his divine commission, 
and seeing it subscribed by the King's own hand, and 
sealed with the King's own signet ! 

From the fact that the office is of divine appoint- 
ment, it follows, — ■ 



132 



THE RULING ELDEKSHIP. 



2. That all its engagements are of a beneficent cha- 
racter. They must be worthy of that God who 
assigns them ; and we know that 'the Lord is good; 
that his mercy is everlasting; and that his truth en- 
dure th to all generations.' * It is true, indeed, that God 
may punish transgressors by the instrumentality of his 
servants. We find angels not unfrequently employed 
in destroying his enemies ; and the civil magistrate is 
'the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath 
upon him that doeth evil.'f Even in these cases the 
honoured agents of Jehovah have ample assurance 
that their commission is not malevolent — that in doing 
what is commanded, they do what is right in itself, 
and will prove blissful in its tendencies— -and that 
when the end and the effect are fully developed, these 
will warrant, and from all pure intelligences elicit, 
the ejaculation, 4 Great and marvellous are thy works, 
Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou 
King of saints ! Who shall not fear thee, Lord, 
and glorify thy name ? for thou only art holy, for all 
nations shall come and worship before thee, for thy 
judgments are made manifestly 

But the work assigned to elders is not of this 
avenging nature. Their office finds its place in a 
great scheme of mercy, and ranks with the institu- 
tions of that gospel which brings glad tidings of great 
joy to all people. They have to be 'with' Christ, 
and to 6 gather with'§ him, when he comes in his pro- 
vidence as he has come in person, to seek and to save 



* Psalm c. 5. t Rom. xiii. 4. % Rev. xv. 3, 4. 

§ Matt. xii. 3. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



133 



that which is lost. It is theirs, more especially, to 
act under the Great Shepherd, when 'he calleth his 
own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.'* They 
are a gift from Christ to his church ; and as we may 
be sure that so munificent a Lord will not make 
paltry and unprofitable presents, we are informed that 
he hath given these and like functionaries ' for the 
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, 
for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come 
in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the 
Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of 
the stature of the fulness of Christ.'f To elders it be- 
longs to tend the sheep for whom the Good Shepherd 
laid down his life ; to inspirit them when they are 
obedient ; to reclaim them when they are erring ; to 
screen and protect them when they are in danger. Is 
there no happiness in doing all this good to those 
whom Christ loves so tenderly? The privilege, it 
must be owned, is poorly appreciated by multitudes. 
6 AH,' says an apostle, ' seek their own, not the things 
which are Jesus Christ's ;'i and the averment made 
of that generation is too applicable to the present. 
To seek, however, is not to secure one's own. Satis- 
faction is too noble a prize to be won by selfishness. 
They who seek their own may so far succeed ; they 
may acquire their own gain, their own fame, their 
own power — but not their oicn happiness. When all 
the means are apparently grasped, the end still eludes 
them. If we would reach true joy, we must cherish 
a true philanthropy, 6 not seeking our own profit, but 

* John s. 3. f Eph. iv. 12, 13. % Phil. ii. 21. 
I 



134 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



the profit of many, that they may be saved.'* What 
we must seek is the happiness of others, of relatives, 
of friends, of the church, of the world ; and while 
theirs is sought, our own will come unsought, and 
take us by agreeable surprise. To impose a rein on 
presumptuous sin, to guide the step of anxious inquiry, 
to rear the olive branch over subdued contentions, to 
shed a ray of hope on the realms of despair, or in- 
sinuate a healing balm into wounded spirits-— that is 
wealth, that is victory, that is bliss ; and that is the 
daily service of a sincere and strenuous eldership. 
From the divine appointment of this office it follows — 
3. That they who fill it in dependence on God's 
grace, are secured of all needful assistance in dis- 
charging its duties. God can give them aid of an 
external and visible character. He can make them 
strong in their pastor. A minister owes much to the 
eldership. He should always treat thern with per- 
sonal respect ; he should be always consulting them in 
his official measures ; he should delight in vindicating 
them from reproaches, and cheering their constancy 
by just commendations; and elders who are on this 
footing with their minister will find, in his standing 
and influence, their own walls and bulwarks. Indeed, 
the efficiency of a minister is, of itself, an invaluable 
help to godly elders. Their minds are set on the pros- 
perity of the congregation ; and when after a time 
perhaps of decay and trouble, they see jarring ele- 
ments harmonised, and languishing interests renovated 
by the impulsive hand of high pastoral fidelity, how 
* 1 Cor. x. 31. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



135 



can they but hail the benign dispensation, and be em- 
boldened, in the contemplation of it, to thank God and 
take courage! Must it not rejoice their hearts to have 
a man after God's own heart for their chosen teacher 
and official fellow-labourer ? 

God can make an elder strong in the other mem- 
bers of session. He can bring into the office men 
4 full of faith and power ;'* and an elder who quailed 
when he was alone, and when he thought only of 
himself, may be ashamed of his timidity, and inspired 
with new vigour in the assembly of his brethren. 

God can encourage elders through the church su- 
perintended by them. The church may do incalcu- 
lably much to inspirit its office-bearers. It is a great 
encouragement to them to be, first of all, called by 
the Lord's people to the Lord's work. On this ground 
it is deeply to be lamented that, even where the elec« 
tion of elders is perfectly free, the number who vote 
is often so limited. This narrow exercise of the suf- 
frage is injurious in many ways. It brings discredit 
on christian liberty as of no value in the estimation 
of them who have it; and it enables any knot of in- 
dividuals to bring into the session a favourite of their 
own, who may be little qualified for the trust, and 
very obnoxious to the congregation generally. But 
what I chiefly remark upon now is, the discouraging 
effect of such fractional voting on the elders elect. 
They might recognise the voice of God in the vote of 
the church ; but can they recognise the vote of the 
church in some twenty or thirty uplifted hands amid 
* Acts vi. 8. 



136 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP* 



hundreds of church members ? On the other hand, 
a well-supported choice is equally efficacious for good. 
It carries power in its appeal, and is remembered with 
a soothing and sustaining delight by elders, so chosen, 
to the last day of their life. If, then, the church 
would encourage its overseers, let them be borne into 
office on the full and flowing tide of a congregational 
invitation. The church may greatly encourage its 
elders after they have been invested with office. It 
can support them in the firm administration of dis- 
cipline, instead of seconding the resistance of wounded 
and impenitent pride. It can favourably entertain the 
measures which they set on foot for its own immediate 
benefit, or the evengelisation of the world through its 
instrumentality; it can defray, cheerfully and liberally, 
the expense incurred by them in representing its in- 
terests at presbyteries and synods ; and it might place 
in their hands a small but select library specifically 
adapted for their official necessities and accountabili- 
ties. Labour becomes light, when performed for a 
congregation thus ' knowing them who are over it in 
the Lord, and esteeming them very highly in love for 
their work's sake/ * 

God can encourage elders through the visible fruits 
of their labours. They may learn of cases where 
persons, in attending their prayer meetings, have be- 
come devotional. The children whom they have 
trained in the way in which they should go, as they 
become old, may not be departing from it; and they 
may have to tell of those who have passed from their 
. * 1 These, v. 12, 13. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



137 



youthful classes to the superintendence of the young, 
to the secretaryships and treasurerships of religious 
associations, to the work of the ministry at home, 
or the far off fields of missionary enterprise abroad. 
They may know of sighs, through God's blessing on 
their words of comfort, transformed into songs ; or 
may meet in the streets the patterns of sobriety whom 
their timely remonstrance had snatched from dissipa- 
tion. These are seals of office which sparkle with 
light from heaven, and lift the heart to the Father of 
lights, whose image is reflected in his own credentials! 

But, suppose that all these encouragements should 
fail; suppose that elders should be weak in their 
minister, impeded and opposed in brethren, disap- 
pointed and grieved in the congregation, and unac- 
quainted with any fruits of righteousness produced 
by their labours; even on this extreme supposition, 
Gocl can still uphold them by his own Spirit 6 work- 
ing in them mightily.' * If they object faint-heartedly, 
6 Ah, Lord God ! behold, I cannot speak ; for I am a 
child,' he can reply, 6 Say not, I am a child : for thou 
shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever 
I command thee, thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of 
their faces : for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith 
the Lord.'f He can make the language of David 
theirs : 6 1 will praise thy name for thy loving-kind- 
ness, and for thy truth : for thou hast magnified thy 
word above all thy name. In the day when I cried, 
thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with 
strength in my soul.'i If they have to relate with 

* Col. i. 29. t Jer. i. 6-8. % Ps. csxxviii. 2, 3. 



138 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



Paul — s No man stood with me, but all men forsook 
me/ they may be enabled with him to subjoin— 
4 Notwithstandingthe Lord stood with me, and strength- 
ened me ; and I was delivered out of the mouth of the 
lion. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil 
work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly king- 
dom : to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.'* 
To be shut out from earthly help is doubtless awing ; 
but if it prove a shutting up to heavenly succours, 
the gain is greater than the loss. Indeed, the divine 
faithfulness cannot be fully appreciated till it is trusted 
alone, and yet trusted absolutely ; and many a time 
has God demolished other reliances, that he might 
vindicate the sufficiency of his unaided arm. To 
trust in God only, and in God wholly ; to look away 
even from his works, and find a perfect, infinite, and 
eternal inheritance in himself, — this is the victory of 
faith and the reign of grace ; and happy are they who 
mourn if they are to be thus comforted. 

From the divine appointment of this office, it fol- 
lows, — 

4. That all who have filled it, in its own spirit, have 
home testimony to its desirableness. The true servants 
of Jehovah have ever found him a kind Master; 
and there 6 hath not failed ought of any good thing 
which the Lord hath spoken unto the house of Israel.'! 
That elders find themselves happy in the discharge of 
their functions is in many ways evinced. Though 
numbers of them have great difficulty in accepting 
* 2 Tim. iv. 16-18. f Josh. xxi. 45. 



THE RULING- ELDERSHIP. 



139 



the office, very few resign it when it has been accepted 
and proved by them. The resignation of the trust 
is a very rare occurrence. Does not this show that 
facts furnish a confutation of fears? Again, the 
elders who appear most in love with their labours are 
generally the first to hail any scheme of enlarged 
usefulness. And, in a word, the dying attestations of 
elders to the divine goodness often turn on their 
official experience. The comforts they have been 
administering return upon their own heads. The 
courage they have acquired in action remains with 
them in suffering ; and the grace they had secured 
to make them useful to others, is the well-spring of 
their joy in their own time of need. When nature 
is sinking, and the mind is wandering, the dearest 
relatives are sometimes overlooked by the departing 
office-bearer of the church, in the imagined prosecution 
of his spiritual calling. He is standing by the sick- 
bed, and exhorting the distressed not to be dismayed; 
or, the accents of prayer ascend from his tremulous 
hps, and we discern, in his petitions, the weekly 
prayer meeting gathered around him, and pouring, 
through his enfeebled but fervent utterance, their 
associated supplications ! Or, he is in the midst of 
his brethren, lauding, perhaps, some measure for the 
furtherance of religion, and promising it his 'best 
support,' in accents which leave no doubt of sincerity, 
and no hope of performance. He has already left 
his own dwelling. The spirit of his higher calling 
has carried him to Zion, and he takes his flight from 
the temple on earth to the temple in heaven ! 



140 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



Such a life may have had its trials : but such a 
death has no terrors. The worst emotion it awakens 
is not pity, but envy ; and a Balaam may well say 
over it — 'Let me die the death of the righteous ; and 
let my last end be like his.' * 

From the divine appointment of this office it fol- 
lows, — 

5. That a faithful discharge of its duties shall be 
abundantly recompensed in a future state. We have 
no merit, and cannot, therefore, receive a meritorious 
recompense; but, even to redeemed sinners, a gra- 
cious recompense is promised, and accessible. Scrip- 
ture gives us to understand that there shall be an 
intimate connexion between present faithfulness and 
eternal happiness. And this holds true, not only in 
general, but in respect to particular appointments, 
and even individual acts ; for, ' whosoever shall give 
to drink,' avers our Lord, 'unto one of these little 
ones, a cup of cold water only, in the name of a dis- 
ciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose 
his reward.'f The promise is here made to benefi- 
cence: and a very large proportion of the promises 
have the same application: 'They that be wise shall 
shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that 
turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and 
ever.' \ The blissful rewards awaiting official faith- 
fulness are especially enlarged upon in the scriptures : 
' Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom 
his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give 
them their portion of meat in due season ? Blessed 
* Num. xxiii. 10. t Matt, x. 42. J Dan. xii. 3. 



THE RULING ELDEESHIP. 



141 



is that servant, whom his lord, when he cometh, shall 
find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, That he 
will make him ruler over all that he hath. 5 * No 
doubt, where the relation is happy and useful to 
overseers, it becomes so likewise to the church su- 
perintended by them ; but the benefit is greatly en- 
hanced in being thus mutual and reciprocal. 6 What 
is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not 
even ye, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his 
coming? For ye are our glory and joy.'j t Ye have 
acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, 
even as ye also are ours, in the day of our Lord J esus/ J 
The same apostle, after noticing the diversified and 
extraordinary self-denial which he cheerfully under- 
went in fulfilling his ministry, tells us, in explanation^ 
c This I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be par- 
taker thereof with you.'§ The end is deserving of all 

* Luke xii. 42-44. f 1 Thess. 2. 19, 20. J 2 Cor. i. 14. 

§ 1 Cor. ix. 23. All the explanations which I have seen of this 
verse in its connexion, appear to me unsatisfactory. 1 Cor. ix. 
13-23: 'Do ye not know, that they which minister about holy 
things live of the things of the temple ? and they which wait at the 
altar are partakers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained 
that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. But 
I have used none of these things ; neither have I written these 
things, that it should be so done unto me ; for it were better for 
me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void. 
For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for 
necessity is laid upon me ; yea, woe is unto me if I preach not 
the gospel ! For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward : 
but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel, is committed 
unto me, What is my reward then ? Verily, that, when I preach 
the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that 



142 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



the means. Well may we toil to promote the eternal 
happiness of others, in which we ourselves are largely 
to participate. The labours of the spring-time will not 
appear to have been excessive, when we reap our har- 
vest in the salvation of souls, and meet in the heavenly 
Canaan with some, or many, whom we have aided in 

I abuse not my power in the gospel. For though I be free from 
all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain 
the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might 
gain the Jews ; to them that are under the law, as under the law, 
that I might gain them that are under the law ; to them that are 
without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but 
under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without 
law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the 
weak-, I am made all things to all men, that I might by all 
means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I 
might be partaker thereof with you.' Our translation, it will be 
observed, represents the apostle as saying, (v. 18,) 'What is my 
reward then? Verily, that, when I preach the gospel, I may 
make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my 
power in the gospel/ By this rendering, the apostle's reward was 
to consist in preaching without charge, that is, in getting nothing ' 
It is only by a supplement that this most improbable sense is 
brought out of the words. The precise rendering of them is, 
1 What is my reward then, in order that (/va) when I preach the 
gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, 
that I abuse not my power in the gospel?' The apostle 
then shows, in the succeeding verses, that he was abundantly 
justified by his conduct in putting such a question. He 
had not abused his power to obtain money or homage of any 
sort, but had accommodated himself to prejudices, as if he had 
been a servant or slave, rather than a free citizen. Having thus 
shown, parenthetically, the reasonableness of the question, he 
answers it, I think, in v. 23 : For what reward do I pass through 
all this self-crucifixion ? ' This I do for the gospel's sake, that I 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



143 



guiding to that happy country. Whatever, then, may 
be the trials and discouragements of the journey, its 
end at least is inspiriting. We serve under Him who 
brings many sons unto glory; and how shall fears and 
fightings be forgotten when the whole enterprise shall 
have been accomplished — when the outcasts of Israel 

might be partaker thereof with you.' The whole passage, begin- 
ning at v. 13, I would thus paraphrase — 

1 Do ye not know, that they which minister about holy things 
live of the things of the temple, and they which wait at the altar 
are partakers with the altar ?' Provision is made, by the Mosaic 
economy, for the maintenance of the priesthood who conduct its 
ceremonial. 1 Even so hath the Lord ordained, that they which 
preach the gospel should live of the gospel.' The support of a 
gospel ministry, by the New Testament church, is just as much a 
divine ordinance as was the support of the Aaronic priesthood by 
the Old Testament church. 4 But I have used none of these 
things.' I have not availed myself of my right to temporal 
supplies, in requital for my spiritual services. 'Neither have I 
written these things that it should be so done unto me.' I have 
not stated my claims now with the view of acting upon them any 
more in time coming than in time past. The enemies of the 
gospel are eager to wound it through my conduct, and if they 
found any pretence for saying that I made a gain of you, they 
would denounce the whole scheme of mercy as a pecuniary 
speculation. In these circumstances I am determined to forego 
my rights, and still to preach the gospel gratuitously ; 1 for it were 
better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying 
void.' When I speak of glorying, it is not on account of preaching 
the gospel, by itself considered, but of preaching it without price. 
1 For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of; for 
necessity is laid upon me ; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not 
the gospel ! ' The case is different as to making the gospel with- 
out charge ; * for if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward.' If 
I spontaneously relinquish pecuniary remuneration, it must be in 



144 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP, 



shall have been all assembled — the dispersed of 
Judah all gathered together — when rulers and ruled 
shall embrace each other in celestial mansions, and 
mingle their hallelujahs before the throne of God ! 

Elders do well to review and ponder these en- 
couragements, whatever stage they may have reached 
in their official career. But I would especially urge 
them on the attention of those who may have been 
elected to the office, and may not yet have accepted 
the appointment. It is one of the greatest evils in 
the church that so many decline this sacred trust. 
Those who are most averse to take it, are often those, 

the view of some compensating benefit; 'but if I preached 
gratuitously 1 against my will,' independently of my will, tben I 
would have no credit in sparing you. On that supposition, I am 
equally bound to preach, and to take nothing for preaching, and 
have no room to boast my personal determination in the matter ; 
l for a dispensation' — an imperative appointment — is committed 
unto me. But such is not the case. Though I am bound to preach, 
I am under no obligation to decline carnal things from those to 
whom I sow spiritual things ; therefore, if I relinquish my dues, I 
must be giving up one good in expectation of another. 1 What is my 
reward then ?' What reward have I in prospect, 4 in order that, 
when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ with- 
out charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel? For 
though I be free,' etc., instead of exercising my freedom, I have 
acted as if I were every one's servant. ' And this I do for the 
gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.' I make 
all these sacrifices, and submit to all this servitude, that I may 
promote the cause of the gospel in your hearts and lives, and may 
consequently rejoice in your rejoicing on the great day of God. 

This view of the passage I proposed many years ago, in an 
anonymous communication to the Theological Magazine. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



145 



too, who have most time to bestow on its engage- 
ments, most means to second their benevolent pur- 
poses, and most influence to carry the congregation 
along with them in good measures. Such persons 
can see all the work of the eldership devolve on a 
few operatives, sufficiently toil-worn and care-worn by 
their own hard service, and absolutely refuse to help 
them with one of their fingers. On such a state of 
things the Head of the church cannot fail to look with 
high displeasure. It is every way ruinous. When 
the office is rejected by persons deemed respectable, 
more generally than by other sections of the commu- 
nity, the apparent reason is that they look upon it as 
vulgar, and deprecate the holding of it as injurious 
to their gentility ! Whatever may be their motives, 
the effect is, that contumely is cast on a divine trust, 
and Christ is slighted and dishonoured in one of his 
institutions. The session comes in this way, also, to 
be of one class; and every class has its own snares and 
prejudices* It would be very disastrous if all elders 
were gentlemen. But on the same grounds that such 
exclusiveness would be reprehensible, it is also to be 
regretted, that the poorest only of the people should 
be their spiritual overseers. What can be expected 
of these men, but that their unaided counsels should 
bear the stamp of their condition ? and whether are 
they to blame, or the more opulent and educated chris- 
tians who desert them, and then complain, perhaps, 
of their 'narrow views' and 'shabby actions?* 

This absence of the more influential members of 
the congregation from the session, necessarily weakens 



146 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



sessional authority, and tempts the subjects of discip- 
line to show disrespect and insubordination. Above 
all, if a juncture come in which the utmost weight of 
character is needed to compose differences and main- 
tain order, a feeble administration is unequal to the 
exigency. Cases could be cited in which congrega- 
tions have been troubled for many years by disputes 
about sessional acts, and from the day that a powerful 
addition was made to the session, all these misunder- 
standings and murmurings have given place to a pro- 
found tranquillity. 

A due regard to these considerations should make 
those who are chosen to the eldership slow in casting 
it from them. Do they shrink from the responsibility 
of accepting it? They should remember that the 
responsibility is not all on one side. Survey these 
consequences of refusal, and can you be willingly 
answerable for them ? Think, too, of withstanding 
the most sacred and authoritative manifestation of 
the will of Christ. You have inconveniences and 
scruples ; but can you pronounce these the leadings 
of Providence rather than the voice of the church 
convened in Christ's name, and observing, in your 
election, his own institution % 

You profess to have obeyed the call, follow me, 
when the end was your own salvation. Will you 
not obey the same voice, using the same language, 
when the end contemplated is the benefit of others ? 
Has compliance with the first call proved so bitter, 
that you have no faith in the recommendations of the 
second? But it may be still objected by elders elect, 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



147 



that they are not qualified for a station of such oner- 
ous accountabilities. This plea of unfitness is more 
urged than any other, or than all others together; 
and, therefore, it may be proper to remark on it 
more fully. 

First of all, let it be observed in reply, that a high 
notion of personal fitness would be a sorry evidence of 
possessing it, and that a deep sense of personal insuffi- 
ciency is one of the first requisites to faith in Christ, and 
efficiency in his service. The office requires men to 
fill it whose exclamation, in the view of its duties, is, 
' And who is sufficient for these things!'* Moses had 
the same objections to be a lawgiver, and Isaiah to 
be a prophet, and Paul to be an apostle. But the 
weakness of these men was their strength ; for when 
they were weak then were they strong. 

Secondly, The plea of unfitness may be urged un- 
der exaggerated impressions of the difficulties to be 
encountered. Here, as everywhere, the yoke of 
Christ is easy, and his burden is light. He gives the 
means of doing all that he commands to be done ; 
where opportunity ceases, obligation ceases ; and is 
not this ' a reasonable service f ' In the capacity of 
a private christian, you are bound to do all that you 
can for Christ. In the position of an elder, what 
more can be demanded of you ? The chief difference 
is, that the same amount of labour, when allied with 
office, does a great deal more good. All are bound 
to minister comfort to the afflicted : 6 Wherefore 
comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, 
* 2 Cor. ii. 16. 



148 THE RULING ELDERSHIP, 

even as also ye do.'* But an elder's visit has an effect 
quite its own. The want of it is felt; the enjoyment 
of it is valued. The sound of his Master's feet is 
behind him, and he is recognised as a messenger 
from the Lord of hosts. Others are bound to re- 
prove sin; but reproof will be taken well from 
an elder, when it would be resented if it came 
from a private member of the church. Such things 
are expected from him, and reckoned becoming in 
him; and how much all this facilitates the per- 
formance of duty it is superfluous to demonstrate. 
All should take part in beneficent exertions ; but few 
can give them the same effective countenance as 
elders. Their presence is ever mentioned among 
causes of congratulation and guarantees of success ; 
and, if they simply look in upon schools, or prayer 
meetings, or kindred institutions, conducted by others, 
their occasional presence is patronage and support. 
In all this there may be no service deserving the 
name of toil, certainly no greater amount of labour 
than is incumbent on the private christian ; and yet 
the good achieved is greatly augmented, if not many 
times multiplied* 

Thirdly, The plea of unfitness, while professedly 
urged in self-accusation, may be really reproachful to 
Christ. You have great deficiencies : be it so. Can 
He not supply them ? You see difficulties in your 
way : granted. But can He not give you to say — 
6 By thee I have run through a troop ; and by my 
God have I leaped over a wali?'f That you are feeble 
* 1 Thess. v. 11. f Psalm xviii. 29. 



THE RULING ELDEESHTP. 



149 



does not decide the question. Is God as feeble as 
yourself ? Is his grace a phantom ? Are his pro- 
mises illusory ! Can he not put his treasure in you, 
an earthen vessel as you are, and there keep it safely, 
that the excellency of the power may be of God, and 
not of men ! God can do all this. If he be trusted 
for it, he will do all; and the conduct which says that 
he cannot, and will not, has only the fair semblance 
of humility, and the dark reality of unbelief. 6 Be 
strong, and of a good courage: for thou must go with 
this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn 
unto their fathers to give them ; and thou shalt cause 
them to inherit it. And the Lord, he it is that doth 
go before thee ; he will be with thee, he will not fail 
thee, neither forsake thee : fear not, neither be dis- 
mayed.' * 

* Deut. xxxi. 7, 8. 



150 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



CONCLUSION. 

Perhaps more than enough has been already said, 
yet I cannot bring myself to conclude without a few 
closing paragraphs of appeal. There is an im- 
portant movement at present on the part of elders, 
and it must have great effects, good or bad. If 
the result were a confirmed indifference, even 
that effect would be vast and eventful on the side of 
calamity. But we are not disposed to indulge these 
gloomy prognostications. It is a delightful token for 
good, that elders themselves are the principal agents 
in devising and propelling measures for the fuller com- 
mendation of their office. The subject has been long 
and seriously pondered by many of them; and when 
action is the result of deliberate and prayerful reflec- 
tion, we look the more confidently for its prosperous 
issue. The cause must not be relinquished by them. 
In the exercise of that faith which worketh by love, they 
must advance with a growing energy, and neither fail 
nor be discouraged, till they have secured for this 
divine ordinance all its scriptural elevation and soul- 
saving efficiency. 

It is not meant that teaching elders should stand 



THE RULING ELDEESniP. 



151 



aside, while ruling elders are aiming at sessional im- 
provement. The ministers of the word must do all 
that in them lies to second the praiseworthy endea- 
vours of their brethren in office. There has been a 
lamentable remissness in this respect hitherto. In- 
calculably much has been done to advance the pro- 
ficiency of ministers and students, and also of private 
christians. Books and addresses, without number, 
have been written, which present in every possible 
aspect the obligations and privileges of all these classes. 
But our sessions have been nearly overlooked, and a 
passing notice of their appointment in the more gene- 
ral defences of presbytery, exhibits most of the atten- 
tion with which they have been honoured. Up to this 
hour there are hundreds of them who, in relation to 
their office, know not what treatises to consult for their 
own satisfaction and guidance. The progress in this 
work has been one of declension ; for in older times 
each presbytery maintained a constant communication 
with the sessions in its bounds, and strictly inquired 
into their condition and faithfulness. The like instru- 
mentality should be instituted afresh. There is no class 
in our churches so accessible as elders ; none so capa- 
ble of profiting by wise and friendly suggestions, and 
none whom it is so important to benefit, for the edifi- 
cation of others. In every view, then, it is of high 
consequence that presbyteries and synods open up a 
correspondence with sessions, and strengthen their 
hands in the effort now making for the augmentation 
of their usefulness. The presbyteries of the Church 
of Scotland, in their parochial visitations, were wont 



152 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



to put such questions as these to the minister of the 
parish, regarding his elders and deacons :• — 

4 1. Is your session rightly constitute, and all the 
elders and deacons duly admitted according to the 
acts of the Assembly ? 2. Do they all attend gospel 
ordinances and the diets of the session ? 3. Are they 
grave, pious, and exemplary in their lives and con- 
versation ? Do they worship God in their families ? 
Is any of your elders an ignorant man, a drinker of 
healths, a tippler, a drinker excessively to drunkenness, 
a swearer, an observer of Yule-days, etc. ? Is he one 
that observes not the Sabbath ? Is he careful to keep 
his oath of admission taken before God in face of the 
congregation, not to delate or censure, but as edifica- 
tion requires ? Do any of them work on solemn fast 
or thanksgiving days ? Is any of them a mocker of 
piety ? 4. Are they diligent, careful, and impartial in 
the exercise of their offices ? Do the elders visit the 
families within the quarter and bounds assigned to 
each of them ? Are they careful to have the worship 
of God set up in the families of their bounds ? Are 
they careful in calling for testimonials from persons 
who come to reside in the parish? Do the elders 
take all discipline upon themselves without the minis- 
ter ? Or do they labour to carry things factiously, or 
by plurality of voices, contrary to God's word, and 
the laudable acts of the presbytery, provincial or Ge- 
neral Assemblies ? 5. Have the elders subscribed the 
Confession of Faith? And are they well affected to 
the government, worship, and discipline of this church? 
6. Have the elders and deacons their distinct bounds 



THE RULING- ELDERSHIP. 



153 



assigned them for their particular inspection? 7. Does 
your session always appoint a ruling elder to attend 
presbyteries and synods ! 8. Are the deacons faith- 
ful in their office, in collecting and distributing all the 
kirk-goods, and in having a care of the sick poor ? 
After all these queries are over, the minister and 
elders are to be severally encouraged and admonished 
as the presbytery sees need.' * The foregoing list of 
queries contains some which would now be reckoned 
of doubtful propriety, and omits other's of great and 
obvious consequence to be proposed. But such as it 
is. we may recognise in it a plan of operation which 
we would do well to re-adopt in its essential provisions 
while we carefully denude it of collateral abuses. 
This return to former usage is in fact commenced. 
Different presbyteries have set on foot a profitable 
correspondence with their respective sessions ; and it 
is to be hoped that these initiatory steps will termi- 
nate in a matured and well-digested scheme for di- 
recting and stimulating the devotedness of the elder- 
ship from one extremity of the land to the other. 

It is an excellent arrangement which has been 
lately introduced of inviting all the elders in a pres- 
bytery to some of its meetings, that they may join in 
its devotional exercises, hear a word of exhortation on 
their proper duties, and confer together on matters of 
practical and general interest. 

The great apostle of the Gentiles, who addressed the 
Ephesian elders convened by him at Meletus, would 

* Collections by Steuart of Pardovan, Book i. Tit. xiii. pp. 51, 
52. 



154 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



have looked with profound interest on these kindred 
assemblies, and would have been stimulated by their 
importance to bring into requisition his utmost power 
and utmost influence to promote their objects. That 
apostle is gone, but his Lord reigns, and though 
ascended up on high, he speaks the more authorita- 
tively as speaking from heaven. He addresses us in 
his word; and we shall do well to inquire, through 
its pages, Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do % 
He speaks to us in his providence ; and w r e should not 
be unobservant of the signs of the times. The duties 
of the eldership are, indeed, at all times urgent. They 
have an essential and abiding importance which can 
be sparingly affected by temporary considerations. I 
am aware, too, that so far as passing events may be 
acknowledged to create special claims, every epoch has 
its own peculiar exigencies and resultant obligations. 
Without, however, exaggerating the distinctive con- 
sequence of our own day, w T e may find in it ample 
stimulus for a diligent discipleship. Our large towns 
are becoming every year larger, and the augmenting 
vice and misery of their poorer population cause se- 
rious disquietude to a considerate philanthropist, A 
spirit of discontent and jealousy pervades no small 
section even of the better-behaved and more comfort- 
ably situated labourers — producing a disrelish for all 
existing institutions, civil and ecclesiastical, and in- 
disposing them for the salutary control of religion 
itself. Not a few of our congregations consist mostly 
of handloom weavers, whose reduced and disabled 
condition it is most painful to contemplate. Mean- 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP, 



155 



while, error is active. Every species of delusion, ad- 
dressing itself to popular prejudice, is indefatigably 
propagated. Popery extends itself on the continent, 
and there glories in the recovery of its lost conquests. 
The same antichristian system gains the ascendancy 
in England, and advances under colours more dan- 
gerous from being more insidious. 

There are compensating and cheering considera- 
tions. We see them in the ecclesiastical state of 
Scotland. Different views are entertained of the dis- 
ruption which has lately taken place in the National 
Church ; but on all hands it will be admitted to have 
added another, and one of the most influential, to our 
Evangelical and Presbyterian denominations, and to 
have quickened the zeal of the Establishment itself. 
If that section of the church to which the writer be- 
longs do its part in the drama of providence, these 
fellow-labourers will be fellow-helpers. Live coals, 
when brought in contact, will burn the brighter for 
burning together. But, on the other hand, unfavour- 
able contrast will be as injurious as honourable com- 
petition w r ould be beneficial; and if we be not stimu- 
lated, we shall soon be superseded by the energetic 
action of other denominations. At the same time 
there are interests at stake, and events in prospect, 
which sink all merely denominational considerations. 
i Who,' says a distinguished minister and professor, 
lately deceased — ( Who can contemplate the character 
and aspect of the present times, or the present condi- 
tion and prospects of the church and of religion in our 
country, and not discern much that is fitted to arouse 



156 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



both ministers and private christians from that state of 
comparative lethargy in which they have long indulged, 
and which is the natural consequence of a lengthened 
period of external peace ? " We can discern the face 
of the sky and of the earth; how is it that we do not 
discern the signs of the times V 9 "Coming events are 
casting their shadows before." The present is preg- 
nant with the buds and blossoms of the future. It 
might almost seem that all nature is desiring with un- 
wonted ardour, and expecting with unwonted confi- 
dence, some new and unexampled " manifestation of 
the sons of God." If "all creatures are not sighing to 
be renewed, and calling on the Prince of Peace to come 
forth from his royal chambers," all things both in the 
political and the religious hemisphere are in a state 
of feverish excitement, of unusual commotion, giving 
tokens most unequivocal, of vast, and it may be hoped, 
of beneficial changes. The Supreme Ruler has re- 
cently " shaken the earth, and the sea, and the dry 
land, and all nations;" now he is "shaking the hea- 
vens," and while the hearts of those who are interested 
in the perpetuation of ignorance, and misrule, and 
injustice, are " failing them for fear, and for looking 
after those things which are coming on the earth," 
the friends of freedom are confidently anticipating its 
triumph ; and many at least of the friends of religion 
are expecting not less confidently that "the daughter 
of Zion will soon arise and shake herself from the dust, 
loose herself from the bands of her captivity, and put 
on her beautiful garments," emerge from her present 
state of comparative obscurity, and burst on the gaze 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



157 



of the astonished nations, "fair as the moon, resplen- 
dent as the sun, and terrible as an army with ban- 
ners." Still farther, an unwonted spirit of prayer for 
the effusion of divine influence is appearing in numer- 
ous districts of our country, and already " drops have 
fallen from heaven," and produced partial and local 
revivals. And may not these be regarded as precur- 
sors of " a plenteous rain to refresh the languishing 
heritage of the Lord" — as auspicious presages, indi- 
cating that soon a the Spirit will be poured upon us 
from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, 
and the fruitful field be counted for a forest." '* 

These are bright anticipations, and ultimately 
sure, but they are not likely to be immediately 
realised. According to present appearances, we must 
pass through much gloom before we enter millennial 
glory, and fight a hard battle before we be decked 
with the trophies, and enriched with the spoils of 
final victory. Are we in a befitting condition, then, 
to meet the juncture? Have we put on the whole 
armour of God, that we may be able to stand in the 
evil day ; and having done all, to stand ? I fear not. 
That there is much true piety in our churches is 
readily and joyously conceded. We see it in the holy 
life, we see it in the peaceful death, of many of their 
members. There is much true piety in our churches ; 
but there is also much of undoubted and inexcusable 
apathy. Too many follow a course which compels us 
to stand in doubt of them; and the more decidedly 
good have, in many instances, a very inadequate im- 
* Address to Elders, by Robert Balmer, D.D., p. 15. 



158 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP, 



pression of their true responsibility. I do not reiterate 
the complaint, that the former days were better than 
these. A fair comparison of the present with the 
past would present, in some views, improvement, and 
in others, deterioration. But, without estimating the 
collective character of the change, it is too certain 
that antecedent and existing usage, both exhibit a 
lamentable discrepancy with the standard of revela- 
tion. Look at the measure of visible saintship with 
which multitudes, called christian, content them- 
selves ! Mark all they do bearing even the semblance 
of religious profession ! Note how far the day is oc- 
cupied otherwise than it would be, if there were no God, 
no judgment, no eternity at all! A short prayer in the 
morning, and another at night ; an occasional remark 
on death in the sight of its desolations; a stated ap- 
pearance in the church on the Lord's-day, with now 
and then a pittance to a religious object, — these ele- 
ments nearly exhaust the amount of discernible godli- 
ness. Was it for this, then, that Christ died? and in 
such slight modifications of constant and devoted secu- 
larly, can he see of the travail of his soul and be 
satisfied? Are these professors of religion travellers 
to Zion ; and is this their preparation for its glorious 
services ? Is it thus that Christ is honoured in his 
people, and his religion vindicated in its efficiency? 
Have we, in such agents and such actions, the ap- 
pointed and congenial instrumentality for the world's 
conversion? The questions answer themselves, and 
the answer covers us with confusion. i Lord, the 
great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



159 



mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep 
his commandments ; we have sinned and have com- 
mitted iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have 
rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts, and 
from thy judgments : Lord, righteousness belongeth 
unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this 
day; our God, incline thine ear, and hear; open 
thine eyes and behold our desolations, and the city 
which is called by thy name: for we do not present 
our supplications before thee for our righteousness, 
but for thy great mercies.'* If we are sincere in 
presenting such confessions and supplications, they 
will be accompanied with active endeavours, in 
humble reliance on God's blessing, to escape from 
acknowledged sins, and achieve a true and thorough 
reformation. Personal piety will be advanced ; and, 
with it, relative fidelity and usefulness. Christians 
will 1 not look every man on his own things, but every 
man also on the things of others.'t The office-bearers 
of the church especially, knowing that office has been 
assigned them expressly for the benefit of others, will 
engage all its powers in serving their generation by 
the will of God. They will seek first to operate on 
the church, for that is their immediate charge ; and 
they will not rest till 4 Lebanon be turned into a 
fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed 
as a forest; till the deaf shall hear the words of 
the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out 
of obscurity, and out of darkness ; till the meek 
shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor 
* Dan. ix. 4 ; etc. f Phil. ii. 4. 



160 



THE RULING "ELDERSHIP. 



among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of 
Israel.'* 

Our Presbyterian churches possess great resources. 
That the Established Church has great pecuniary ca- 
pabilities will not be disputed, as it retains, next to 
the Episcopal Church, the wealthier portion of the 
community. The exertions of the Free Church h&^re 
made it impossible to question its plentitude of meaiis. 
Indeed, the history of its beneficence is highly instruc- 
tive. The National Church was supposed to be doing 
great things before the late disruption ; and yet the 
Free Church has not only replaced national endow- 
ments by spontaneous contributions for the mainten- 
ance of its own ordinances, but has contributed far 
more in a state of separation, for missionary objects, 
than the Establishment supposed itself equal for while 
it continued in its integrity. 

But even the minor bodies of Presbyterians could 
do much if they were disposed. The Reformed 
Presbyterians, or Covenanters, form one of the 
smaller sections of them; and, of late years, they 
have conducted missionary operations on a liberal 
scale. The United Presbyterian Church is in pro- 
portion much stronger. To it many talents have been 
committed, for which it is eminently responsible. We 
may not think it to be affluent, if we compare it with 
wealthier denominations, or if we view the classes 
whence its members are derived relatively to other 
and richer grades of the community. But the pecuniary 
means of this religious connexion will appear great if 
* Is. xxix. 17, etc. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



161 



we compare them with those of the primitive church, 
in regard to which an apostle said, 6 Hearken, my be- 
loved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this 
world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which 
he hath prepared for them that love him?'* Yet we 
do not find that the church, as then subsisting, was 
prevented from undertaking or prosecuting any good 
work, owing merely to pecuniary straits. Estimate, 
also, what our churches might do for religion by the 
amount which their members expend on personal or 
family comforts, and we shall discover no want but of 
mind and will. 

When I speak, however, of resources, I would not 
remark on money alone, or chiefly. Here are hun- 
dreds of thousands professing godliness, who have 
placed themselves under our inspection, and who look 
that we declare to them the whole counsel of God. 
What intellectual — what moral stores are here, all 
avowedly placed at the foot of the cross ! If the prin- 
ciple of dedication to Christ were fully carried out — 
if our people were not only missionary congregations, 
but congregations of missionaries, every one striving 
to be useful in his own sphere and own manner, then 
what good might not be accomplished? These re- 
sources it is the duty and the privilege of elders to 
bring into application. If eleemosynary funds were 
given them in charge, they would think it dreadful 
to keep back one farthing of them from its charitable 
destination. But if the beneficence of a congrega- 
tion be intercepted by the apathy of its overseers — 
* James ii. 5. 



162 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



by the supineness of those functionaries who were ap- 
pointed to prompt and regulate that beneficence,— 
is there not a breach of trust, outwardly different, per- 
haps, but essentially similar in its character ? Elders 
are bound to promote the well-doing of a church. In 
all the degree, then, that they might accomplish this 
end, and do not, are they not responsible for the defi- 
ciency? It is not said that a church will do all that is 
recommended by the members of its session ; but it is 
meant and maintained, that the means of usefulness 
within a congregation are, to a great extent, at the 
disposal of those who are over it in the Lord ; so that 
a congregation cannot be inactive and its eldership be 
innocent. Let elders, then, not think their work done 
till they have set others — till they have set all others 
a- working. Let them look on the rich in the congre- 
gation as the custodiers of its funds— on the children 
and youth in a congregation as arrows for the hand 
of a mighty man, and rejoice to have a quiver full of 
them — on the mature and strong in the congregation 
as an available agency for arduous enterprise, where 
energy and discretion are both essential to success — 
on every gift and grace of every church member as a 
vessel both fitted and intended for the Master's use ! 

That a new and nobler reformation is required be- 
fore millennial glory be attained is painfully obvious. 
Why, then, should it be deferred ? Let us set our 
hearts on it, and plead with God to have it now, and 
look and live, and labour for its coming. The power 
must be from on high ; for the zeal of the Lord of 
hosts shall perform this. But the Spirit works by 



THE RULING- ELDERSHIP. 



163 



means ; and by what means more suitable than by 
the constituted authorities in his church ? The con- 
summation, holy brethren, is, under God, in your 
hands : believe it : and all things are possible to him 
that believeth. 

The father of an afflicted son, who was a lunatic, 
and sore vexed with an unclean spirit, brought 
him to the disciples, and they could not cure him. 
Afterwards the disciples came to Jesus apart, and 
said, 'Why <jould not we cast him out? And 
Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief ; for 
verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of 
mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove 
hence to yonder place, and it shall remove ; and no- 
thing shall be impossible to you.' * Let these and 
similar assurances embolden you to act with a zeal 
and fortitude becoming the work which you perform, 
the God whom you serve, and the inheritance which 
you anticipate. ' Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, 
quit you like men, be strong.' f 

Have done with those apologies which incredulity 
suggests. The old may not say, ' I am excused by 
age from novelty of movement, and have no elasticity 
of mind or body for these modern ameliorations.' A 
spring-time will be the more marked that the veteran 
oak puts forth its leaves, and renews its youth in the 
exuberance of its foliage. The work will be the more 
manifestly of God, when grace stimulates the fire 
where nature would let it languish, and guides to 
new fields of christian achievement where habit and 
* Matt. xvii. 20. t 1 Cor. svi. 13. 



164 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



association would rather commend a beaten track. 
What a comfort were it to these aged servants of 
Christ, to see this revival of his cause both begun and 
prospering in their hands— to see the sun rising on 
Zion when their own sun is going down — to see not 
only their children's children, but peace upon Israel ! 
The youthful among our elders may not say, 'It were 
presumptuous in us to stir in these matters/ We 
vindicate the appointment of such to the office, on the 
principle that the church needs not only the wisdom 
which years teach, but the valour and enterprise 
which youth inspires. That the argument is sound, 
it lies with them to demonstrate — to prove, not by 
words, but by deeds, by infusing a freshness of fer- 
vency into all our operations. The apostles, when 
chosen to the apostleship, were almost all young men. 
Consider what they did, and be followers of Christ, 
as ye have them for examples ! 

There is not a little to discourage us in present 
prospects. The decline of Protestantism, and return 
to Papal error, in England, is particularly appalling. 
But show us that Presbytery reforms itself, while 
Episcopacy matures and multiplies its corruptions, 
and we shall not fear the aggressions either of prela- 
tical or papistical intolerance. Give us an eldership 
succeeding to the spirit and to the labours, as they do 
to the plainness of the apostles, and we cede all that 
remains of apostolic succession to the eulogists of its 
virtue. 

What, then, is to be done ? I have answered the 
question already; and I would have all whom I ad- 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



165 



dress to answer it now for themselves. Let each take 
counsel in his own soul, and earnestly and prayerfully 
deliberate with himself what he might do which he is 
leaving undone for the bringing again of Zion. Let 
elders take up the subject in session assembled. Let 
session communicate with session, and those in one 
presbytery with those in another, till all our eldership 
be as one man in elevating christian practice to scrip- 
tural principle. Begin such measures and suspend 
them not till something good, till something great 
emerge from this movement, till God overrule it for 
establishing Jerusalem, and making her 6 a praise in 
the earth.'* 

♦ Is, IxiL 7. 



REMARKS 



ON THE LIABILITY OP 

ELDERS AND OTHER ECCLESIASTICAL 
OFFICE-BEARERS 



TO 

ACTIONS FOR DAMAGES FOB, THEIR OFFICIAL ACTS. 



tt Actions of slander are of two kinds, — either the defender has 
" or he has not a right to speak of the pursuer. If he has not, he 
" is liable in damages, if the accusation is false. If he has the 
" right, then he is protected, unless he maliciously makes the ac- 
" cusation. In the first case, it is not necessary to state malice, as 
" it is sufficient if falsehood and injury is proved ; but in the second 
" case, malice must be stated and proved, as it is the ground of 
u the action." — Lord Chief Commissioner Adam. 



In the exercise of their official duties, elders are 
called upon to inquire into, and pronounce judgment 
on the character and conduct of the members of the 
church. If a member be charged, either by com- 
mon report or otherwise, with immorality, it be- 
comes the duty of the elder, either with or without 
sessional authority, to investigate into the truth of the 
matter, and with this view to apply to parties sup- 
posed capable of affording information, and when he 
has done so, to report to his brethren in session the 
result of his inquiries. Sometimes, too, an elder may 
be called on to act the part of a prosecutor, either 
before the session or presbytery, and in that character 



108 THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 

to make a formal charge against an individual, and 
bring forward evidence in support of it. As a ses- 
sion, also, elders are called on to deal with offenders, 
or persons accused of immoralities — to state their 
opinions in regard to the guilt of such persons ; and, 
if satisfied of the proof before them, to pass and re- 
cord a sentence of adequate censure, rebuking the 
party, suspending him from church privileges, or, it 
may be, expelling him from the communion of the 
body. Now, the law does not, in the case of general 
society, permit such interference on the part of one 
man with the character and conduct of another, as 
all this plainly implies ; and were any man to attempt 
it with regard to his neighbour, he would subject 
himself in damages, if he could not plead such a pri- 
vilege to do so as the courts of law will sanction ; — 
and seeing that the duty of elders, according to the 
Presbyterian constitution, requires such a procedure, 
it becomes an important question, whether, in dissent- 
ing communities especially, elders or other ecclesias- 
tical office-bearers have the right referred to in the 
quotation prefixed to this paper, and how far they 
may deal with the characters of those under their 
inspection, without subjecting themselves to actions 
for slander and defamation ; for, if the law makes no 
exception in their case, it is obvious that their duties 
cannot be safely discharged. 

I have no hesitation in saying, however, that the 
law T of the land does make an exception in their fa- 
vour — that it will protect sessions and other church 
courts collectively, and the members of them indi- 
vidually, so long as they act according to and keep 
within the rules and usages of the denomination to 
which they belong. And I found this assertion on 
these three maxims : 1st, Internal government is es- 
sential to the existence of every established or tole- 
rated religious society; 2d, The connection which 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



169 



any person, as a member, has with such a society, 
and the authority which the office-bearers of it have 
over him, arise from his own voluntary act in seeking 
admission to its privileges, and in assenting to its 
principles and rules ; 3d, The office-bearers are 
entitled to exercise that control over the members 
which the known constitution and usage of the so- 
ciety, under which the members have voluntarily 
placed themselves, prescribe and warrant. Acting 
according to these, therefore, and keeping within the 
bounds which they sanction, elders have nothing to 
fear. 

I do not mean by this that an action of damages 
is incompetent against elders or other ecclesiastical 
office-bearers, for acts clone by them injurious to the 
reputation of those with whom they deal ; or that 
in all cases where an action of this kind is brought, 
they are entitled at once to have it dismissed, as 
one which a civil judge cannot look at or enter- 
tain. I only mean that, when prosecuted for alleged 
injury sustained through their official actings, they 
are entitled to plead privilege — (that is, that there 
existed a legitimate occasion or call for them to act 
as they did;) and that no action will lie against 
them for subjecting them in damages, unless malicious 
motive be averred and can be proved. 

In many cases the statement of the pursuer will 
give rise to this plea, and show its application, to the 
effect of procuring the immediate dismissal of the 
action. If a party, for instance, were to bring an 
action, averring that he, being a member of a parti- 
cular congregation, had been called before the session 
of it, and charged with some immorality, and that 
after some inquiries made, but without any legal' 
evidence, A B the minister, and C, D, E, etc., 
the elders, had falsely and calumniously pronounced 
and recorded a sentence against him as guilty of that 



170 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



immorality, and on the ground of his alleged guilt 
had deprived him of his rights and privileges as a 
member of the congregation, and thereby injured his 
reputation and good name, — such a statement, on the 
very face of it, would give rise to the plea of privi- 
lege : it would show that the acts complained of were 
done by the parties against whom it is directed in 
their official character, as the ecclesiastical office- 
bearers of the voluntary society to which the pursuer 
had attached himself ; and the action would in con- 
sequence be dismissed as irrelevant. 

It may be, however, that the summons would be so 
laid as not to bring out the application of the plea of 
privilege ; that the facts might be so disguised as to 
leave it in doubt, till proof should be led, whether the 
conduct complained of was within the line of official 
duty or no. It might be alleged that the party was 
not subject to the ecclesiastical control of the de- 
fenders, or that the rules and usages of the society 
did not warrant them to take cognizance of his con- 
duet ; or the facts might be represented so as, if true, 
to exclude the plea of privilege. And in such cases, 
especially where the subsequent pleadings or record 
do not elicit an admission of the true state of matters, 
the court may be necessitated to allow the case to go 
to trial or proof, in order that the actual facts may 
be established. If, however, on evidence being led, 
the relation which existed between the parties, and 
the right of the defenders, according to the usage of 
the religious body, to take the pursuer's conduct under 
their review and pronounce upon it, are proved, the 
defenders will be entitled to a verdict in their favour, 
as not liable in damages ; and no alleged irregularity 
of the procedure, or apparent rashness in deciding, 
will avail the pursuers. 

In questions of this nature the law, I apprehend, 
makes no difference between the protection afforded 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



171 



to members of the Established Church courts and to 
those of dissenting communities, but what may arise 
from the circumstance that the rules and procedure of 
the one are matters regulated in some measure by 
statutory law, while those of the other are the subject 
of private arrangement and constitution or usage. 
The Judges know the powers and duties of the former, 
while they cannot know, judicially at least, those of 
the other until they are proved. But, except where 
this specialty interferes, the same rales which regulate 
the rights of the one set of office-bearers regulate 
those of the other also. The law of toleration im- 
plies a power of internal government on the part of 
the tolerated communities, without which they could 
not exist ; and the rules which they adopt must be 
held to be known to all who connect themselves 
with them. In both Established and Dissenting 
churches the right, on the part of the office-bearers, 
to judge and deal with character and conduct, 
which is the foundation of the privilege to which we 
have referred, arises from the voluntary act of the 
party. He is not compelled, by birth or residence, 
to subject himself, or his character and conduct, to 
the authority of the kirk-session of the parish, or 
other courts of the Established Church, any more 
than he is to subject himself to the authority of the 
session or presbytery of a dissenting* community. It 
is choice, his free, voluntary act, which alone can give 
to either a right over him ; and he has the power to 
disown the authority and put an end to the ecclesias- 
tical jurisdiction at his pleasure ; but so long as that 
connection, thus established, lasts, he has no right to 
complain to the civil courts for redress of any supposed 
wrongs he has sustained at the hands of his ecclesias- 
tical superiors. 

The privilege, however, is and must be limited to 
acts properly in the discharge of official duty. Elders 



172 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



have no right to claim privilege for anything they do 
beyond this. So long, therefore, as they are acting 
officially, and within the line of duty, they are safe, 
but beyond that line they are to be treated as men 
ultroneously meddling with the character and conduct 
of their neighbours. Accordingly, as it would be 
unbecoming in them to make what passes in the 
session-meeting, or what they do officially, the subject 
of conversation and tattle out of doors, so neither is it 
tolerated. If they make the failings or the delinquencies 
of those over whom they are set as overseers in the 
Lord the subject of discussion or remark to others, 
they are at once acting a part unworthy of their office, 
and one which exposes them to the law of the land ; 
and their conduct, instead of being protected, will be 
looked on as aggravating the grounds of complaint 
against them, from the greater injury it is calculated 
to inflict arising from their standing in society. 

In the first place, then, I would remark, that in all 
cases where privilege, or the right to speak or act in 
reference to character, is pleaded, it must be made 
evident that the right existed in the defenders ; and it 
may be a question how far the relation in which the 
parties stood called for or entitled them to act as they 
did. The pursuer may assert it did not, the de- 
fenders that it did. The court, before whom the case 
comes, is not to be supposed cognizant of the usages 
of all the religious bodies in the country. In Presby- 
terian bodies it is the session who have the right to 
take cognizance of the conduct of members ; in Con- 
gregational bodies it is the whole church. In others 
the right may be in the pastor alone ; and more 
extended or more restricted duties may be assigned 
to different office-bearers. Greater publicity, also, 
may be given in one society to the sentence of the 
ruling body than in another is ever thought of. In 
all cases, therefore, the right of protection will depend 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



173 



on the answer that can be given to the question, Were 
the acts complained of within the line of duty of 
the defenders or not, according to the usage of the 
body to which they and the pursuer belong ? That 
question, however, can only be answered to the satis- 
faction of a civil judge by a proof of the usage itself. 
And in such cases, the issue to be sent to a jury 
and tried must be, Whether the defenders did so and 
so, in violation of their duty, and to the injury of the 
pursuer f 

In the next place, it must be apparent that the 
right, if it ever existed, remained in force at the time 
of the acts complained of. The law of privilege will 
only avail elders in their dealings with a party truly 
amenable at the time to their ecclesiastical jurisdic- 
tion. Sessions or presbyteries have no right to make 
the character or conduct of those who do not belong 
to their religious society the subject of their dis- 
cussions or reproofs. This, I believe, will rarely 
if ever, occur. But it may be that a member of 
a congregation, so soon as his conduct has been such 
as to call for sessional inquiry, leaves the body, and 
renounces the authority of its courts. In such a case 
their proceedings should be immediately arrested, for 
the right of the court or its members to inquire into 
the alleged immorality has ceased. The connection 
out of which that right, and, consequently, their pri- 
vilege in dealing with it, arose, is one of an entirely 
voluntary character ; and, the moment a man disowns 
his connection with them as his ecclesiastical su- 
periors, their right to speak or judge of his conduct 
terminates with his connection. All they have to do 
is to declare him no longer of their communion or 
entitled to the privileges to be enjoyed in it; or, if he 
bore office among them, to denude, or declare him to 
be denuded of it ; and the reason of the sentence 
should be his declinature or fugitation from discipline^ 



174 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



not his guilt, or presumed guilt, of the matter laid to 
his charge. 

And lastly, though an elder, or other ecclesiastical 
officer is protected by the plea of privilege, the pro- 
tection is not an absolute one — it is liable to be lost, 
if malicious intent can be averred and proved. No 
man is entitled, under the cover of his official station, 
to gratify a spirit of malevolence or revenge, by ruin- 
ing the character of his neighbour. If, therefore, it 
should be made obvious that the proceedings of an 
elder, or of a session, were actuated, not by a desire 
to do their duty, but to gratify their malice — that 
their official situation was only a cloak which they 
assumed or took advantage of for the purpose of in- 
flicting injury on the person against whom their sen- 
tences were directed- — an action will be sustained, and 
damages will be awarded. It is not enough, however, 
that a mere general allegation is made that the conduct 
complained of was malicious. Circumstances must 
be condescended on, affording, at least, a colourable 
case in support of the charge of malice. Something in 
their conduct, apart from the proceedings themselves, 
or which gave a peculiar character to these, must be 
stated, which, if proved, will entitle a jury of impar- 
tial men to say that they were not acting in good 
faith, but were dishonestly perverting the office which 
they held into an instrument of injury and oppression. 

In corroboration of these remarks I may now al- 
lude to some of the cases which have occurred and 
been decided bearing on these different points. 

And the first I shall notice is that of M { Queen, fyc, 
v. Grant, 25th July, 1781, and 21st November, 1783 * 
This was an action of damages against a parish 
minister for refusing tokens of admission to the com- 
munion table to certain parishioners on the ground of 
alleged misconduct. In the first instance the action 

* Mor. Decisions, pp. 7466 and 7468. 



THE R CLING ELDERSHIP. 



175 



was limited to this ground of injury ; and the Lord 
Ordinary, while he disapproved of the minister's con- 
duct, found i that as in the refusal the defender was 
' acting in his capacity of minister of the parish, he 
' is not, on that account, amenable to the civil court of 
( law, and therefore finds the condescendence not rele- 
vant, and assoilizes the defender/ The court af- 
firmed this judgment ; but, the pursuers having in a 
reclaiming petition alleged that the minister had in- 
dustriously circulated the calumny, the libel was al- 
lowed to be amended. Accordingly, the pursuers hav- 
ing offered to prove that he had said to several persons 
that they (the pursuers) had perjured themselves be- 
fore the Justiciary Court, 6 the court thought the facts, 
4 thus qualified, injurious and actionable. To refuse 
6 admission to the ordinances of religion, or to give 
' reasons for that procedure either in the church courts 
c or in private admonition to the parties themselves, 
4 was a matter merely ecclesiastical, but to propagate, 
4 in public companies, a story highly prejudicial to 
6 the reputation of a parishioner, or even to give a 
1 reason for his conduct, could not be justified by the 
1 character of a minister.' A proof was consequent^ 
allowed, and damages were found due. 

A similar decision was given in Robertson v. 
Preston, 11th Aug., 1780.* There, it had been 
reported, at a kirk-session, that Robertson had been 
guilty of immoralities. He was summoned to attend ; 
and, having disobeyed, a sentence was pronounced that 
he was unworthy to be admitted to the Lord's Supper. 
An action was raised before the Commissaries, 
charging the minister and elders with having scandal- 
ised his character both in the session-house and out 
of doors ; and a defence, declining the jurisdiction of 
the Commissaries, having been repelled, the case 
was advocated to the Court of Session. The Lord 

* Mor., p. 7468. 



176 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



Ordinary (Hailes) remitted to the Commissaries to 
refuse a proof of what was said or done by the de- 
fenders in the kirk-session, or in their collective 
capacity, but to allow a proof of what they did as 
individuals. To this the Court adhered. 

These cases related to sessions of the Established 
Church, but the principle is equally applicable to 
dissenting church courts. Hence, in the case of 
Auchinclose v. Black, 6th March, 1793,* a minister 
belonging to the Burgher synod having been de- 
posed for the sin of fornication from the office of 
the holy ministry by a sentence of his presbytery, 
which was affirmed by the synod, he raised an action 
of slander and damages against the members of the 
presbytery. In this action, to make out, if possible, 
a relevant case, he alleged that the charge and pro- 
ceedings upon it were the result of a foul conspiracy 
on the part of his brethren, in which, by importunity 
and threats of persecution on the one hand, and pro- 
mises of tenderness and absolute secrecy on the other, 
joined with his own bad health and spirits at the 
time, they had succeeded in wringing from him cer- 
tain confessions, expressed in equivocal and qualified 
terms, which truly related to an accidental instance 
of intemperance in liquor, and had been unduly ap- 
plied by the presbytery to the charge of fornication. 
The members of presbytery pleaded their privilege ; 
and the Lord Ordinary, 6 in respect he does not con- 
' sider it competent for this court to review the pro- 
6 ceedings of Associate congregations, commonly called 
6 Burghers, when sentences are pronounced by them 
( in their ecclesiastical character, therefore sustains 
c the defences, assoilizes,' &c. Auchinclose reclaimed 
to the court, and detailed circumstances in support of 
his plea, that, though under the colour of judicial 
proceedings, all had been truly done in prosecution of 

* Hume's Cases, p. 595. 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



177 



a malicious conspiracy against him. 6 At advising, 
'the Judges' (says Mr Hume) 'were generally of 
{ opinion that the defenders were answerable if it 
' could be shown that though made in a judicial form, 
: the charge against the pursuer was truly a calumny, 
; and was made and prosecuted in a malicious spirit. 
c But all agreed in thinking that the pursuer had not 
1 condescended relevantly, and that the contents of a 
4 certain letter were a sufficient answer to all he al- 
1 leged.' They therefore refused his petition. 

Mr Hume ? in connection with his report of this 
case, mentions another — Brownlie and Scott, v. Session 
of Carlulce, 1st July, 1819 — as having been decided 
on the verbal report of a Lord probationer. It was an 
action of damages raised by two individuals, who had 
been deprived of their privilege as members of the con- 
gregation on account of certain alleged irregularities 
in their conduct relative to the affairs of the meeting- 
house ; but it was found that no complaint lay in the 
civil court, what was complained of having been done 
in the course of judicial and ecclesiastical procedure, 
and in matters which were competent to the session. 

The case of Grewe v. Smith, 12th Feb., 1808,* 
is also in point. There both parties, a master and 
servant, were members of a congregation of Bereans. 
Smith charged his servant with acts of dishonesty 
and immorality ; and, according to the usage of 
that denomination, he brought Greive's conduct be- 
fore the church, through their pastor, by a written 
communication, charging him as a person devoid 
of truth, filled with malicious thoughts, abandoned 
to a reprobate life, given to wicked and dishonest 
practices, and unworthy of fellowship in any chris- 
tian society. The church held several meetings 
for the investigation of these charges, in the course 
of which both parties lost temper, and Smith called 

* Hume's Cases, p. 637. 



178 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



Greive a vagabond and a villain. The result was, 
that Greive finally separated himself from the society, 
and brought an action of damages. Besides found- 
ing it on the statements made to the pastor and 
church, the action charged Smith with having ex- 
pressed himself to the prejudice of Greive's honesty 
and credit to two or three different persons. The 
Lord Ordinary held him liable generally in £100 of 
damages. But, on a reclaiming note, 'the court 
6 thought that everything must be laid aside that had 
' passed, judicially in some measure, at the meetings 
4 of the congregation, and according to the rules and 
' usages of the Berean Society. The exceptionable 
i matter was what passed in conversation on other 
6 occasions elsewhere, and for this damages may be 
' due, but not to so high an amount, especially a3 
4 Smith seemed not to be altogether without some 
6 excuse.' The damages were reduced to £20. 

The quotation prefixed to these Remarks, from 
a speech of Lord Chief Commissioner Adam, is 
taken from his charge to the jury in a case, 
M'Lean v. Fraser, 19th May, 1823.* Damages 
were there claimed against a minister for his hav- 
ing accused the pursuer, in a meeting of the presby- 
tery, as guilty of gross violation of the Sabbath. The 
defence was that what the defender said was in the 
exercise of his duty, while the pursuer denied this. It 
was admitted, however, that, if a person made his 
public station a cloak for private malignity, he would 
not be protected ; but it was at the same time argued 
that, in such a case, not merely injury but direct malice, 
or some previous ground of malice, must be proved. 
The Lord Chief Commissioner remarked that, as the 
case was limited to what was done in a church court 
(it had not been so at the outset), there might be 
some doubt of its legality ; and, if the action had been 

* Murray's Cases, III., 353. 



THE KULDsG ELDERSHIP. 



179 



brought on this ground alone, it probably would not 
have been sent to trial ; and that no proof of any 
grudge or act showing malice had been offered. The 
jury gave, under his directions, a verdict for the de- 
fender. 

In a late case, that of Sturrock v* Greig and 
others, loth Feb., 1849, * the Court went even 
farther than in some of the previous cases, and ex- 
cluded part of a libel which claimed damages for 
ecclesiastical proceedings and sentences, even where 
an allegation was made that these had been originated 
and carried on maliciously and without probable 
cause. It was an action at the instance of an assistant 
schoolmaster against the parish minister and elders. 
The grounds of the claim for damages on the part of 
the schoolmaster were — 1st, That in certain sessional 
proceedings against him minutes were recorded, and 
that in a petition by the session to the General As- 
sembly statements were made, setting forth that there 
existed a/ama against him that he had been guilty of 
fornication, and representing him as guilty of falsehood 
and of conduct unbecoming the character of a christian, 
of a communicant, and of a teacher of youth, and that 
a sentence had been pronounced, suspending him from 
church privileges, by all which he had been greatly 
injured : 2d, That a minute of the session, containing 
statements injurious to the pursuer's character, and 
assigning reasons why, notwithstanding the decision 
of the superior church courts reversing their sentences 
against him, the session regarded him as guilty, and 
considered that his restoration to the enjoyment of 
sealing ordinances would be injurious to the discipline 
of the church and to the promotion of true religion, 
was read from the pulpit by the minister with the 
sanction and by the authority of the session: 3d, That 
an extract of one of the sessional minutes had been 

* Cases in Court of Session, New Series, Vol. XL, p. 1220. 



180 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



sent to a local board, having the charge of a mortifi- 
cation for defraying the education of poor children, 
some of whom were taught by the pursuer, as a rea- 
son for the session's declining to fill up a vacancy in 
the number of children under his charge. The Court 
distinguished between these different charges, and 
dealt with each in a different way. The first they 
regarded as relating to sentences pronounced and 
proceedings taken by the session in a proper case 
of discipline duly brought before it and within, its 
competency and province as a church court ; and, 
although it was alleged that the statements were made 
maliciously and without probable cause, they decided 
that no action of damages could lie against the mem- 
bers of session in respect of these, and refused to send 
an issue to a jury. In regard to the second, they 
viewed it as not ex facie a case of privilege, and sent 
an issue to the jury to say whether the publication 
from the pulpit was made in violation of duty and to 
the pursuer's injury. And as to the third, they 
treated it as an ordinary case of defamation, and 
authorised an issue whether the minute was false and 
calumnious, and whether it was wrongfully published 
to the pursuer's injury. 

Here, then, it will be seen, a clear distinction was 
taken between (1) sessional acts in the ordinary 
course of a case of discipline, — (2) sessional conduct 
out of that course, publishing statements to the party's 
prejudice after he had been acquitted by the superior 
judicatories, — and (3) communications made on the 
subject of his character to third parties. For the first, 
the session were found not answerable ; for the second, 
liable in damages only if in violation of duty ; and for 
the third, simply if false, calumnious, and wrongful. 

This case related to the conduct of a kirk-session 
of the Established Church ; and in the consideration of 
it, the Judges were led to speak more directly in re- 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



181 



ference to the powers vested in the church courts by 
the statutes establishing the Church of Scotland. But 
many of the expressions used show that the law, as 
expounded, was considered equally applicable to dis- 
senting church courts. The Lord Justice-Clerk said 
— 6 We are not now discussing the right principles of 
4 church government, according to the Scriptures, 
4 neither are we to consider the extent of the autho- 
4 rity over the members of a dissenting establishment, 
'flowing from the principles sanctioned among 
4 themselves, and submitted to by the act of joining 
4 the same. I avoid the question as to whether simi- 
4 lar protection extends to their church courts, solely 
4 because that is not the case before us — but not from 
4 any doubt now entertained by me that they may 
4 claim the same. I take simply the fact that the 
4 Church of Scotland, as established by law, has 
4 adopted; and that statute has declared and pro- 
4 claimed, that according to the Word of God, as in- 
terpreted by the Church of Scotland, its church 
4 courts are invested with the right and duty of dis- 
4 cipline over its members ; and that such right flows 
4 from the divine institution of the christian ministry, 
4 and of the presbyteries which the Church of Scot- 
4 land holds to be, although not of divine prescription, 
4 as the only form of church government, but as 
4 founded on and as agreeable to the Word of God. 

4 No one need be, unless he chooses, a member of 
4 the Church of Scotland, or of any particular sect, in 
4 the constitution of which there are things to which 
4 he objects. If he joins the same — and if I under- 
4 stand the statements here, the pursuer did so delibe- 
4 rately, after being employed in the teaching of youth, 
4 and therefore of mature years — then he must take its 
4 constitution as he finds it. He must be subjected to 
4 the authority and discipline of the church, and he 
4 must be content to acknowledge the authority under 

M 



182 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



4 which that discipline is exercised to be of divine in- 
4 stitution, and bestowed by the great Head of the 
4 Church on the office-bearers of the church over 
4 him — if such shall be the view taken of his sub- 
jection to church discipline by the laws of the Church 
4 of Scotland. 

4 No doubt all this is a very grave and weighty 
' question — one of the most serious with which legisla- 
4 tion or the arrangements of voluntary churches have 
4 to deal with. No doubt such views of the origin 
4 and character of the authority of the church over 
4 its members, whether an established or dissenting 
4 church, entrust much to the weakness and frailties 
4 of human nature. But if the church which the in- 
4 dividual has joined, being the Church of Scotland, 
4 has proclaimed and announced its views of scripture 
4 on this subject, and placed its members under the 
4 discipline of the church, by reason and in respect of 
4 the authority bestowed on the church acting through 
4 its office-bearers by divine ordination and appoint- 
4 ment ; then, according to that very theocracy, 
4 so established, the member of the church must 
4 acknowledge and submit to the authority under 
4 which the discipline is exercised over him. In an 
4 establishment he may have this advantage, that the 
4 grounds on which discipline can be exercised over 
4 him may be defined by, or must be consistent with 
4 law ; and whether some think this interferes with 
4 the spiritual liberty of the church, at least in this 
4 question it removes one great source of objection to 
4 the plea contended for by the defenders, and affords 
4 the members of the Established Church a protec- 
4 tion which it may be — I only say it may be — the con- 
4 stitutions of voluntary churches may not have given, 
4 as clearly as they have established the subjection of 
4 their members to ecclesiastical discipline/ , 
4 We have to deal only with a party who has delibe- 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



183 



4 rately by choice, we must presume, -and still more 
4 by the acceptance of an office, but still voluntarily, 
6 subjected himself to the discipline of the Church of 
4 Scotland, whatever that may be.' 

Subsequently, his Lordship said — 1 From this, I 
4 think it necessarily follows that, in matters clearly 
4 within the cognizance of church officers or courts, as 
4 subject to church censures (I keep to the exact case 
4 before us, and the law within the statute), when the 
4 church judicatory is thus exercising the government 
4 so entrusted to it, its judicatories and officers are 
4 not amenable to the civil courts of the country in 

* damages for alleged wrong. They have been trusted 
4 as a separate government. The declaration of the 
4 authority under which they act, assumes that it must 
4 be separately administered — free from control — free 
' from subjection or subordination to civil tribunals. 

4 The inquiry into their motives — which is the very 
6 essence of the pursuer's case — by other civil courts — 
k it may be by men not even of the church — is abso- 

* lutely repugnant to the freedom which, must belong 
4 to a church in matters of discipline. 

' To any party alleging wrong by such courts, the 
4 answer, then, is plain — if these courts were acting 
4 wholly within the matter committed to them, they 
6 are distinct and supreme — and the authority under 
4 which they sit, excludes any inquiry into their mo- 
i tives by civil courts. But hardship, in truth, there 
4 is not, whatever the party may feel, for he has 
6 chosen to subject himself, in all matters which can 
' come within the discipline of the church, to the 
4 Church of Scotland as established by law ; and the 
4 authority of that church in cases falling within dis- 
4 cipline, has been announced and fixed. 

4 The view that may be taken of this matter by in- 
1 dependent religious bodies, unless their constitution 
4 is very express, may go much farther ; and it may 



184 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



4 be that their church courts may have, as against 
4 their own ministers [members], the sole right to 
4 decide what is competent matter for church disci- 
4 pline and ecclesiastical government. And such 
4 bodies may consider it an objection to the purity 
4 and independence of the Established Church, that it 
4 does not possess such power uncontrolled. But to 
4 the members of the Establishment there is, on the 
4 other hand, the benefit of the protection which the 
4 establishment of a church by statute implies— viz., 
4 that the church courts must act within the limits 
4 assigned to them. Now, the opinion I give applies 
4 solely to a case in which, as here, it is distinctly 
4 admitted, or plainly appears, that the church cen- 
4 sures were enforced in respect of matters clearly 
4 falling within the discipline competent to the church, 
4 and of which the church courts had entire cog- 
4 nizance.' 

In like manner, Lord Medwyn remarked — 4 The 
4 Scottish Confession is declaratory of this distinction, 
4 and of the independence of the church courts of the 
'Established Church of Scotland : but the rule is not 
4 confined to these. I ascribe the right of indepen- 
4 dent church government to a much higher source, 
4 and give it a much wider application : accordingly, 
4 our courts respect it in the case also of all tolerated 
4 sects — those other religious bodies where the mem- 
4 bers submit themselves voluntarily to the jurisdiction 
4 of the office-bearers of their church, whatever it may 
* be, so that no member can come to the civil court 
4 with a claim of damages in a proper ecclesiastical 
4 question, implying a review of the proceedings of 
4 the church court on its merits, on an allegation of a 
4 wrong done by that court.' And his Lordship 
referred to Auchinclose's case, and Greive v. Smith, 
both above mentioned. 

And Lord MoncriefF said — 'It appears to me that 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



185 



'no one can have any just right to insist in such an 
6 action against the members of the kirk-session of 
' the Established Church, or, indeed, of any church, of 
€ which he holds himself to be a member, when he 
6 reads the terms of the Confession of Faith, in sections 
c 3 and 4 of chapter xxx., which he professes to re- 
6 ceive as the confession of his faith in this matter.' 

6 The pursuer has voluntarily 

6 submitted himself to the jurisdiction legally consti- 
1 tuted for dealing with such things ; and I think 
' that, in such a case, the privilege in the sentences 
6 pronounced, and proceedings connected with them, 
6 is absolute against the competency of such an action 
6 in the civil court/. 

Lord Cockburn dissented from the other Judges, in 
so far as their opinions went to exclude action even 
where malice and want of probable cause was alleged, 
w T hich he regarded as introducing a new and dan- 
gerous principle, and giving kirk-sessions fi an abso- 
lute licence of defamation ;' but he also viewed the 
principle as equally applicable to dissenting churches. 
After stating, in strong terms, what would in his 
judgment be the effect of such a principle, he says, — 
6 Nor is this frightful system confined to the Estab- 

• lishment. The principle, if it be followed out, must 
' apply to all our Presbyterian dissenters, in their 
6 dealings with their own adherents, and, indeed, to 
' every religious community. So that the whole coun- 
4 try is studded with little inquisitions; from whose 

* fatal but irresponsible censures, no man has any 
i safety except he who, in reference to such a system, 
' is in what must be considered the comfortable con- 
6 dition of belonging to no religious community at all; 
4 though even he is by no means quite secure against 
4 the general censorship of the Established session/ The 
case on the issues which were allowed, I may acid, went 
to trial, and pretty heavy damages were awarded. 



186 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



In this case, I think, the Court went rather far in 
excluding an issue in reference to the sessional pro- 
ceedings where malice was alleged and offered to 
be proved ; and in a later case, that of Dunbar 
against the Presbytery of Auchterarder, 11th Dec, 
1849, * where a presbytery, who had deposed a 
schoolmaster under the Schoolmaster's Act, on a 
charge of adultery found proven, and whose proceed- 
ings were reduced by the Court of Session in conse- 
quence of irregularities, were prosecuted for damages, 
the Court (First Division) threw out the action, but 
solely on the ground that it was not specifically 
averred that they had been actuated by malice. 

And in a still later case, that of Edwards v. 
Begbie, &c, 28th June, 1850, f the general principle 
was very fully argued. This was a case where 
the vestrymen of an Episcopalian chapel were sued 
for damages foi having ejected the pursuer, a brother 
vestryman, on charges of gross lying and falsehood, 
and as unworthy to take any part in the business and 
counsels of God's house, and got their sentence read 
from the pulpit. Their title to the character of a 
church court was much doubted. But Lord M'Ken- 
zie — the other Judges concurring, said, — 4 Supposing 

* the defenders could be regarded as having acted 

* judicially, I conceive the general rule to be, that 

* judges,, civil or ecclesiastical, if they, in the exercise 
4 of their function, commit a wrong maliciously and 
4 without probable cause, must be liable in damages ; 
4 and I am aware of no exception applicable to this 
4 case. I think, therefore, the pursuer must get his 
4 issue.* The defenders then proposed to allow an 
issue whether the facts complained of were done 4 in 
violation of their duty as vestrymen,' etc., and this 
being accepted, the case went to trial, and damages 
were found due. 

* Cases, &o.; Vol. XII., p. 284. f Ilid -> P- 1 134 * 



THE KULIXG ELDERSHIP. 



187 



Before closing this enumeration of authorities, I 
may refer to another, as illustrative of the remark 
previously made, that it is not safe to pronounce 
sentence of condemnation on parties who, before 
such sentence was issued, renounce or disown the 
authority or jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical court 
to which they were for a time subject. I refer 
to Dunbar v. Skinner, 3d March, 1849.* The bear- 
ing of this case on the point in hand will be suf- 
ficiently seen, without any detail of it, from the rubric 
given to the report : 4 A clergyman of the Church of 
4 England subscribed, under certain conditions, the 
4 canons of the Scottish Episcopal Church, and sub- 
4 mitted himself to the authority of one of the bishops 
6 of that church. He afterwards withdrew his sub- 
4 scription, alleging, as his reason, that the conditions 

* on which he had subscribed had been violated by 
4 the bishop. An ecclesiastical sentence against him 
4 was subsequently issued by the bishop. In an ac- 
4 tion of damages at the instance of the clergyman 
1 against the bishop, on the ground that the sentence 
4 pronounced was libellous, — Held, 1. That the bishop 

* had no authority at law to pronounce such sentence. 
4 2. That his authority, if he ever had such, depended 
4 on the contract of submission by the clergyman, 
4 who was entitled to withdraw from it if its condi- 

* tions were violated. 3. That the court has jurisdic- 
4 tion to try whether the contract was violated. 4. 
4 Defence that the act of the bishop was privileged, 
4 repelled, the clergyman having offered to prove a 
4 violation of the contract.' 

These decisions, to which others might be added, 
show, I think — 

1. That sessions, proceeding according to the rules 
and usages of the church, and acting in the spirit 
which ought ever to guide them, have no cause to 

* Cases, &c, Vol. XL, p. 945. 



188 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



fear the results of any actions of damage with which 
they may be threatened, but will be protected by 
privilege. But, 

2. If they make matters of discipline the subject of 
conversation and remark out of session and apart 
from their official actings, they are liable to be dealt 
with as other defamers ; or, 

3. If they proceed to pronounce sentences, find- 
ing guilty of immoralities or other misdemeanors 
persons who have left their communion and dis- 
owned their authority, they expose themselves to 
prosecution ; or, 

4. If they allow themselves to be actuated by ma- 
licious motives or revengeful feelings, even their 
judicial actings, if proved to have originated in, or 
to have been influenced by these, may subject them 
in damages. 

Against these limitations of their privilege of pro- 
tection, church rulers have no right to complain. 
Even with these exceptions they have all they 
are entitled to demand ; and they enjoy an equal 
privilege to that which the civil judges of the 
land (otjier than those of the supreme court itself) 
possess. 

Public rebukes, or the publication to congregations 
of the sentences of sessions or presbyteries, are now, 
at least in the ordinary run of cases of discipline, 
comparatively rare, but they are sometimes re- 
quired ; and as it is part of the law of the church 
that sentences of suspension or deposition of office- 
bearers are to be intimated to the congregation at 
large, and that occasionally rebukes to private mem- 
bers are to be publicly administered, — it follows, from 
the principles above stated, that where such publica- 
tion is ordered by a session or presbytery, both the 
members of these courts and the minister who is their 
mouth in the announcement or rebuke, being in the 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



189 



execution of their duty, will be protected by privilege. 
But this privilege will not extend to a minister who 
shall so far forget himself, as from the pulpit to 
calumniate or bring charges against either his own 
hearers or others, whether by name, or in such a 
way as leaves no room to doubt of their intended 
application. The place and the circumstances, 
instead of affording protection, will aggravate the 
offence in the eye of law, and increase the amount 
of damages. Several cases of this kind have 
occurred ; but, as they do not fall particularly within 
the subject in hand, it is only necessary to mention 
them below.* 

Neither does it fall strictly within the object of 
these remarks to consider how far private members 
of the church are protected in the communications 
they may make to sessions or to individual elders, 
in reference to the conduct of their fellow-members. 
But the general principles above stated apply to them 
whenever duty can be pleaded ; and the case of Greive 
v. Smith is an instance in point. It may be remarked 
generally, 1. That when persons are called on to give 
evidence, or to state what has come under their obser- 
vation, they are as safe to do so to ecclesiastical office- 
bearers as in civil suits — and 2. That as it is their in- 
terest that the membership of the church to which they 
belong should be kept pure, so it is their right to com- 
plain of or bring under the notice of their elders any 
conduct of their fellow-members by which they have 
been offended, or which is calculated, in their estima- 
tion, to bring discredit on the religious society. 
In doing this they will be safe from an action of 
damages, providing they have probable cause for their 
complaint, and it is not made maliciously. Were 

* Scotland i\ Thomson, 8th Aug., 1776. Morrison, v. Dili- 
gence, Ap. No. 3. Adam, v. Allan, 23d Feb., 1811, Cases, &c, iii., 
1059. Smith, v. Gentles, 31st Jan., 1814, Cases, &c., vi., 565. 



190 



THE RULING ELDERSHIP. 



such a case occurring, the right and duty of com- 
munication might be denied, and it might be incum- 
bent on the defender to prove its existence according 
to the usage of the body ; but, that right being 
' established, effect would be given to the plea of 
privilege. 



BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. 



